Ready to Start
by TheCheeryCherry
Summary: Skins generation 3 in the misfits-verse. COMPLETE with sequel due to come out at the end of October!
1. Cloudy with a chance of superpowers

This is a hardlet-centric fic based in the misfits-verse, but it's got loads of stuff going on (hopefully) and not just hardlet. So hopefully you guys enjoy it!

_My mind is open wide_

_And now I'm ready to start_

~ Arcade Fire, Ready to Start

_Cloudy with a chance of superpowers._

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Mini let out in a low growl as she snatched the orange jumpsuit out of the probation worker's hand. The probation worker allowed himself to look shocked for a second before simply rolling his eyes and stating,

"Watch your language." He then handed the orange jumpsuits to the other two girls. One of them clicked her tongue in annoyance and the other one surprisingly said, 'thanks' and not in a sarcastic manner either. "We're just waiting for the other two, so get changed then."

He just stood there for a second longer to hear some sort acknowledgment for what he just said, but he got a glare in return from Mini.

"And will you just be standing there while we change, pervert?" One of the girls giggled at her statement.  
>"I was just… fine, I'm going!" Hequickly left the changing room before he felt even more cornered.<p>

The girls quickly got to removing their clothes in exchange for the orange jumpsuits. Grace was the first to finish and walked up and down the aisle as if she was on a catwalk.

"It's not so bad!" She said in-between little outbursts of laughter. Liv raised one eyebrow in her direction and Mini let out a snort as she pulled the jumpsuit up past her waist.

The door opened abruptly and two boys appeared in the doorway. Mini and Liv were hidden behind the lockers, but Grace was in plain view with her hands on her hips in her model pose.

"This is mental!" Alo said, his voice filled with laughter, as he saw the uniform Grace was wearing.

"I will cut off your balls if you take another step, alright?" Mini shouted as she desperately tried to finish pulling her jumpsuit on, while Alo and Rich exchanged horrified glances with each other.

"Oh, that's Mini… They're just changing." Grace said simply with a shrug and she walked over to the boys with her arm outstretched. "My name's Grace."

Rich seemed less than bothered to reply, so Alo did it for him while he just stood there sulkily.

"Hey Grace, I'm Alo and this is Rich." Grace happily shook Alo's hand and Rich pretended not to see she was offering her hand for him to shake. Mini and Liv walked out from behind the lockers. Alo seemed to have a problem forming a coherent sentence when he saw them… more specifically Mini.  
>"H-hi… uh… I'm Alo or Aloysius and this -"<p>

"Yeah, whatever." Mini said, walking over to the mirror to check how horrendous she looked in the jumpsuit.

"It's all yours." Liv said, pointing to the locker area they had just been using to change. Rich trudged past her in his black boots and Alo reluctantly followed.

"How am I supposed to concentrate with a girl like that in our presence?" Alo whispered to Rich. Rich replied with a bored groan, as he thought that was a suitable enough reply.

* * *

><p>"You've all been signed up for 140 hours of community service, which means you're working here for four weeks. So let's just get on with it then, shall we?" The probation worker clapped his hands together and pointed at the garbage bags on the floor in front of him. "Easy work today – Rubbish collecting!"<p>

Mini and Liv raised their eyebrows in sync with each other, as did Rich. They were all lined up outside changing room all with similar bored expressions.  
>"Well, get on with it then!" He raised his voice a little higher when he realized nobody was making an effort to move. Grudgingly they all picked up the trash tongs that was used for picking up the rubbish and the large garbage bags.<p>

Once outside, Grace and Liv were already messing about, pinching each other's noses and bums with the trash tongs. Mini was leaning on the tongs, but not making an effort to pick anything up. The boys were smoking around the side of community centre, hoping nobody would catch them.

"So which one do you like then?" Alo asked in between smoking. Rich rolled his eyes and made a noise that sounded like a snort.

"None of them… They all look like douchebags." He took the cigarette from Alo and was about to add, 'Especially that blonde one', but she was already walking over to them.

"Give me that." She said in her most commanding voice. Rich shook his head, as he pulled the cigarette out from between his lips. Alo snatched it off him and handed it over to Mini.

"Yeah, just ignore him." Alo said with an awkward chuckle. "I was wondering if you -"

"Don't even finish that sentence, ginger." She said, taking a long drag on the cigarette. Alo gave a little nod and then squinted off at something in the distance. Liv came over once she saw Mini was smoking and demanded some too.

"Right, I'm moving… away from here then." Rich mumbled and quickly escaped.

He sulkily started picking up the rubbish, not paying attention to what was happening around him and just concentrating on his tongs. Another pair of tongs came into view and grabbed onto his own pair.

"Gotcha," came a cheery, playful voice and when Rich looked up he saw Grace grinning at him.

"_Hilarious._" He stated darkly and Grace's smile faltered for a second before she mischievously started to say,

"So what are you and your friend here for?" Rich avoided looking at her for and concentrated on his own picking. She prompted him though with a simple, "_Well?"_

"It's not really any of your business, so -" He said, finding a seemingly used condom clinging to the edge of a bench. He picked it up with a look of disgust.

"It's a secret then? Well, Mini, Liv and I were caught shoplifting." She said, still with a smile to her voice. He crinkled his nose and finally turned to look at her. Now she was turning away from him and picking up some empty beer cans. Her hair was in a low bun with a few strands falling down over her eyes. '_She could almost be described as pretty'_, he thought, '_if she wasn't such a stupid nutter…'_

"Why the fuck are you smiling about that?" She glanced up at him as if taken completely off-guard.

"It was a funny day…" She said in a little dazed voice, then she took her tongs and used them to point at Rich's jumpsuit. "Also you've got a condom on your uniform."

"Shit…_" _He muttered under his breath and tried to scrape it off.

"The weather looks pretty shit as well." Grace mumbled, glancing up at the sky. Rich squinted up as well. The sky was the darkest shade of grey he had ever seen and he was surprised it hadn't started raining yet.

"Is the weather why you're in such a bad mood, or are you always like this?" She asked, tucking some loose strands of hair behind her ears and putting her tongs down to rest for a moment. She was standing completely composed and as if she was at the Queen's garden party rather than doing community service.

"Well, I'm picking up shit, stuck in community service for a month and I've got you for company, so yeah… all of those compiled together is making me pretty pissed off."

Grace sucked on her lip to hide her smile.

A hailstone the size of a ping-pong ball smacked Rich right on top of head mid-rant, and Grace couldn't hide her smile anymore, in fact she was laughing heinously at it. She abruptly stopped when a hailstone even larger, nearly the size of a bowling bowl, came crashing down on a bench just two feet away from her.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Mini shouted from the size of the building, as Rich and Grace ran in that general direction.

"What do we do?" Grace whined, as another hailstone (although it could no longer really be described as that) collided down in front of the now shrieking group.

"THE DOOR!" Liv shouted, pointing at the front door to the centre. Before even considering the fact that if they ran in that direction they would be out in the open, they ran for it.

Rich risked glancing up at the sky and saw sheet lightning spreading across the entire sky. The sky wasn't even grey now, but it was as dark as night. Then he saw a sight that he couldn't actually believe at first, because it was too unnatural; fork lightning was spiking the ground in several spots. He ran faster than he thought possible, but it was too late… One fork lightning hit the ground right where he and the others were standing. There were a few screams, as they levitated above the ground for a few seconds, then they crashed back down into a deadly silence…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Ooohhh… dramatic ending! Anyway next chapter should be up soon. Let me know what you think :) It should be mostly hardlet focused, but a lot of group interactions as well. Go and have a guess what their powers are going to be! If your ideas are AMAZING then I might even change one or two of them ;)

Thanks,

TheCheeryCherry x


	2. Hands of Stone

_What if the storm ends?_

_And I don't see you_

_As you are now_

_Ever again_

~ What if the Storm Ends?, Snow Patrol

Hands of Stone

* * *

><p>"Need some help?" Alo was blocking out the now bright sky from Mini's view and holding a hand out in front of her face.<p>

"Keep your manky hand away from me." She muttered menacingly before standing up by herself. She looked down at the other fallen bodies. Mini had been flung off to the wall of the community centre, away from the others. Liv was near to Mini, but not touching her. Grace's head was resting on Rich's stomach and they were absolutely still, as if they were pleasantly sleeping.

"What the fuck happened?" Liv asked, in a confused voice. Grace stirred at the noise and stretched her arms above her head before finally opening her eyes.

"What's going on?" Grace asked. She felt something move beneath her and her eyes widened when she realized who she was lying on top of.

"Sorry…" She mumbled, stumbling up into a standing position. Rich let out a low groan, as he winced in the bright light.

The door to the community centre opened and the probation worker was glancing around the destruction that lay before him. A bench was smashed up, a gate was bending at a strange angle and everyone was still trying to stand up straight.

"You did all this?" He shouted, but sounded puzzled at how badly things seemed to be messed up.

"Yeah, yeah that's what happened here." Mini snarled, her voice full of sarcasm. "Didn't you hear the lightning?"

"You can't hear lightning..." Rich said in an equally sarcastic tone with a roll of his eyes. He finally managed to stand up and get rid of his dizziness.

Mini stuck her middle finger up at him as a form of a reply. The probation worker was about to try found out what was really going on, because he hadn't actually heard thunder and now the sky was bright and cheerful. However Alo puked up his breakfast in front of everyone. The rest of the group pulled identical disgusted facial expressions at the sight.

"Uhh… I think I might've caught something." Alo said while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Maybe I should take the rest of the day off?"

"_Fine_!" He said with a defeated sigh.

"Awh, that's ace mate!" Alo said, already heading towards the community centre door. The others trailed after him.

"Just him! Everyone else get back here!" Liv exchanged a sidelong look with the others and they all proceeded to cough, sniff loudly or make gagging noises.

"I think we've got… what he's got!" Liv called in between a fake cough. They hurried in before the probation worker could stop them.

"What happened when the storm hit us?" Grace asked when the laughter began to die down.

"Hey, we're fine… There's no need to worry about it Gracie!" Liv said, throwing an arm around Grace to give her a tight squeeze.

"Olivia is bang on there! So what's the plan for the rest of the day then guys?" Alo asked conversationally, while holding open the door to the lockers for them to enter.

"Uhh… going somewhere far away from you." Mini snorted in response. Grace giggled a little making Rich shake his head angrily. Grace noticed this and frowned. He turned away from her to head to his locker, but heard her reply, "_What's so bad about laughing?_" He couldn't resist saying something horrible back to this.

"Absolutely nothing, but _normal_ people laugh at something _funny_." He raised one eyebrow cockily at her and took pleasure in the fact that he managed to insult two people in one go. Grace furrowed her eyebrows slightly and gave a small, disbelieving laugh.

"What are you talking about?" She asked slowly and the two other girls both narrowed their eyes at Rich.

"Right… So stupid you can't even understand me." He shook his head and turned back to his locker. Liv and Mini looked aggravated at the last comment, but Grace still stared at Rich's back as if she was studying him. Alo was watching the scene before him with slightly worried eyes – he was used to Rich starting up arguments with people due to his honesty, but Rich was acting a little strange.

"Well, I'm getting changed out of these shitty, rank overalls." Mini said in tones of disgust as she walked in the direction of the bathroom with Liv at her heels.

Rich was rifling in his locker for his shirt, but he could feel Grace's eyes burning a hole through his back.

"_What?"_ He grumbled and Grace came to his side, so he could see her small smirk.

"What were you talking about earlier, Rich?" She gave the kindest smile she could and hoped she came off as understanding. "Were you talking to yourself?"

He lifted one side of his mouth in total confusion and was on the verge of laughing.

"I was just replying to you -" He was cut off by a loud scream. Rich and Grace snapped their heads around in the direction it had come from.

Rich chose not to believe what his eyes were telling him as he walked the few paces towards Mini, Alo and Liv.

"Wh-" This was the only sound Grace managed to make as she saw Alo's still body standing before her.

"He – he was trying to g-get something out of my fucking hair and I slapped his hand away…" Mini stared at her own hand in horror, as Liv began to back away from her.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Rich asked, the fury completely evident in his voice.

"N-nothing." She chewed on her nails as she stared at Alo, who now was made of cold, hard stone.

"This is _crazy_!" Liv shouted, her voice filled with panic. She was moving her arms wildly about her in an attempt to calm herself down, but it wasn't working in the slightest.

"How could this happen?" Grace mumbled, moving closer to the statue that stood before her. "The storm…"

She turned around to see what the others reactions might be. Mini looked too much in shock to answer, Rich turned his gaze away from Alo to Grace and Liv shook her head wildly.

"_All I did was touch him…" _Rich heard Mini say and he turned his attention to her. She was slumped up against the wall, still staring at her hands.

"Touch him again," He said calmly. "You can turn him back… Just fix this and then we can start worrying about what's happened."

"_That's the best thing he's said all day…"_

"Yeah?" Rich asked, looking back at Grace over his shoulder. She seemed taken aback and raised one perfect eyebrow up at him.  
>"Yes?" She asked, moving away from Alo, so Mini could try to turn him back.<p>

"Didn't you just say – Nevermind." Was there something wrong with him now? Was he just hearing things?

Mini cautiously touched Alo's face and closed her eyes, as she waited to see what would happen… Nothing. She knew it wasn't working, but opened her eyes to check if he had gone back to normal.

Rich's face fell and tears pricked annoyingly at his eyes. Before anyone had a chance to try other options, they could hear the footsteps of their probation worker approaching the door. They all quickly exchanged and just seemed to know what they had to do.

Mini ran to the door and pushed against it so the probation worker couldn't enter. Rich and Liv attempted to push and pull the statue towards the bathroom.

"What the…. Open the bloody door!" Mini widened her eyes in the direction of the gang as if she was asking what she should say. They didn't pay any attention to her, so she came up with something off the top of her head.

"Uh… I'm changing!" She could still hear him breathing on the other side of the door, so pushed her back up against the door.

"It would be good if you helped here!" Rich snapped at Grace, who was just holding the bathroom door open for them.

She left the bathroom area and placed both of her hands on the statue. Her hands began to tingle, as if she was getting an electric shock.  
>"Ouch…" She gasped and instantly tried to pull her hands away from him. However when she tried to do so, she couldn't. A pinkish gummy material that joined her hands and Alo's arm together wasn't letting her pull away. She shrieked and the others stared in amazement as the statue slowly began to turn into the proper Alo. Grace managed to break away from him when he turned back into a proper human. He fell into a heap on the floor and Grace fell on top of him.<p>

The probation worker now broke through the door and stared at the strange scene that was happening before him.

"What the hell is going on here?" Grace and Alo began to stand up, and Mini walked over to where the others stood. "Never mind… I don't really want to know the answer to that. I think all of you seem well enough to continue, so we'll just have a fifteen minute break then back to work, alright?"

There were a few mumbles of 'alright' and the probation worker nodded with a slight hint of smugness, as if he had restored order. He left soon after, leaving the gang alone again.

"What _is_ going on here?" Alo asked, his voice full of uncertainty and plain bafflement. "What happened to me?"

"Mini touched you and then you were… made out of stone? Then Grace touched you and you turned back…" Liv said, although she seemed completely confused herself.

"Right…" Alo slowly said. Rich gave him a pat on the back to express his happiness about Alo being okay now.

"Is it just me and Gracie with… something wrong with them?" Mini quietly asked, still glancing down at her hands.

"I don't really fucking know anymore…" Liv said, sounding like she wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. Grace gave Rich a meaningful look, but he didn't say anything.

'_You can hear me…_'

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **This is so bad and I'm really disappointed with how this turned out! Sorry… Hopefully you're all still willing to give this story a chance :) Thanks for all the reviews so far!

And yes, you will be seeing the other characters later on in the fic!


	3. The Breakfast Pub

_Don't you wanna feel my skin on your skin?_

_It's only natural_

_~ I never had a lover_

_~ I never had a soul_

The Killers, Bones

The Breakfast Pub:

* * *

><p>"Guys, I want a power too! Are just the girls going to have them or something? This isn't fair." Alo said with a sulky expression that made him look like a toddler. Rich was smirking at him as he placed their pints of beer on the table. He immediately stopped smirking when he noticed Grace giving a very significant look with one eyebrow raised in Rich's direction.<p>

"Maybe it's not just the girls, Alo…" She stopped looking at Rich then and focused on Alo with a small smile. "Perhaps you haven't found what yours is yet."

"If you really want a power, you can take my shitty one." Mini said with a scowl, before crossing her arms across her chest. The others tried to ignore Mini, because they couldn't really console her, as she wouldn't let them, so there was nothing really to say to that statement.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about it here… you know, in public." Liv said, while leaning in so she didn't have to say it very loudly. There were a few mumbled tones of agreement – and an agree growl from Mini - and everyone went back to awkwardly sipping their drinks.

Alo had decided the 'gang' go to the local pub and get to know each other. Mini had flat out refused, but Grace and Liv thought it might be a good idea after a long day's work.

"Hey dildos!" The group twisted their heads in the direction of the strange greeting. There were two guys there, one who seemed a bit like a dildo himself and the other who seemed a slightly more normal, but with very bright clothes on. "Got some _femmes_ for company… How did you pair of cunts manage to pull?"

Grace widened her eyes at the use of that particular c-word so easily, whereas Rich simply rolled his eyes as if he was used to it.

"Uh… hey Rider." Alo started, while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"You're friends with _him_?" Liv said quietly, snorting and looking disgusted in Rider's direction.

Mini mumbled with a roll of her eyes, 'Why should we be surprised?'

"Ignore him… hey gang, what's happening?" The boy in bright clothes said, giving Alo a high five.

"This is Nick…" Rich said in such a way that suggested he was already bored. Grace smiled and waved, and others grunted unenthusiastic 'hello's.

"I've got my shift now, so... uh... I should get to work." Nick said, and then he leant closer to the gang and gestured back at Rider, who was now trying to get off with a very pretty girl. "Tell him to fuck off if he's being a twat."

"Don't worry, we will." Mini said with a small smirk when she realized Nick was quite good-looking. "A round of vodkas here when you're ready by the way."

"Finally getting into the partying spirit, McGuinness!" Alo cheered. He had taken to using Mini's last name as soon as he heard it that morning.

"Just want to take my mind off -" She didn't finish her sentence, but stared down uselessly at her hands. Grace gave Rich another meaningful look and this time poked him from the other side of the table. They were sitting in a booth with Mini, Liv and Grace on one side and Rich and Alo on the other side.

Rich looked up from his pint to stare at Grace. He shook his head, as he had a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

"Rich has a power too…" She said in a small voice. She looked slightly guilty for saying that, but Rich could feel his anger rising at her revelation. Alo sat up quickly and hit his friend lightly on the arm.

"What is it? What is it?" He repeated it a few more times in an excited manner, while Mini and Liv just sat there with straight faces waiting for him to say it.

"Uh… I don't really know. I guess -" He started off.

"He can hear people's thoughts!" Grace finished, excitedly. Alo formed a perfect 'O' shape with his mouth at this.

"No fucking way! Tell me what I'm thinking." Rich sighed deeply and reluctantly tried to concentrate on Alo's thoughts.

'_Don't think about boobs… don't think about her boobs._'

"Fantastic. Boobs." Rich grumbled, going to take another sip of his beer. Grace giggled and Alo looked like this was the best news he had heard all year.

"Wow, newsworthy information there." Mini said sarcastically.

"Shh… your _friend_ is coming back over." Liv mumbled, and everyone tried to look casual as Rider came back over, giving a toothy grin to the gang.

"Would any of you lovely ladies like to share a joint with me?" He said, trying to look as charming as any man could in a pair of khaki shorts and t-shirt that said _'I rode your mom.' _Grace quickly shook her head.

"Yeah… No thanks." Liv said, turning back to her bottle of beer. Mini stood up.

"Fine. No staring at these though." She said, gesturing at her boobs. As an afterthought she added, "And no touching either."

Rider grinned as if it was his lucky day and followed Mini out the back door of the pub.

"I'm going out for a cigarette." Rich mumbled, heading out the front door. Grace chewed her bottom lip for a second before following after him.

"Just the normal folk left then." Alo said, while accepting the shots from Nick.

"Cheers…" Liv said, tapping glasses with Alo.

* * *

><p>"Hi…" Grace said quietly, once she followed Rich outside. He let out an internal groan when he saw she had come along with him. "I wanted to say sorry for telling the others about your little secret."<p>

He knew she was being sincere and he didn't even have to read her thoughts to know that. She was sweetly smiling up at him and looked like she really wanted his forgiveness.

"Whatever… It doesn't matter." He shrugged and continued to smoke in the hope that she would now go back inside. She didn't. Instead she relaxed and leaned against the wall right next to him.

"Is it annoying hearing what people think about?" She asked casually, tucking some strands of hair behind her hair.

"Uh… yeah. I really don't give a fuck what people are thinking." Rich said uncaring of what her reaction to this would be. She seemed to expect this response as she began to smile and shake her head slightly. Rich turned his face to her with his eyebrows raised, as if to say '_What?_'

"Well… That's exactly why you've got that power, isn't it Richard?" She said with a little sigh, as if she was teaching a child something that was very obvious, but she didn't want to tell the child they were being stupid for not knowing that. Rich winced at the tone she took with him – it was too sickly sweet for him – and the fact that she called him Richard. "You seem to judge people very easily without knowing them - I know you judge me based on my friends and the way I dress and act. Maybe when you listen to who they actually are, you'll be… more understanding."

She took her foot off the wall, so she was now standing up straight. She smoothed over her dress, as Rich tried to process what she said. It was kind of rude and usually he would have some sort of quip to make back at her, but she was being honest; he could tolerate honest people. Instead of saying anything sarcastic, he simply asked in an almost conversational manner -

"So are you a healer then?"

* * *

><p>"Babe…. Babe?" Mini internally groaned at the use of that word and tried to tune him out, but he was right in her face and she was scared he might try to touch her.<p>

"_What?" _He smirked when she finally replied and tried to _subtly _flex his muscles, which almost made Mini dry heave.

"Let's skip the part where you pretend to hate me, okay? We both know we're going to bang tonight." She snorted loudly at this and flicked the cigarette to floor. She stubbed it out with her shoe and tried to go back inside the pub. He moved faster than her though, so he was now blocking the door.

"Move dipshit." She lowered her eyes and growled as low as possible to get her point across. He blatantly ignored her warning. He moved his hand scarily close to her cleavage and before she could even think about the fact that she turns people to stone, she slapped him hard across the face.

As he slowly turned to stone, she gasped heavily and went back to hating herself like she had earlier that day when she first found out about her power. Staring at his cold statue made her want to puke, but then she remembered how he kind of made her want to puke when he was human as well. This may have actually been an improvement…

But this was getting fucking ridiculous now. She couldn't touch a person ever again? Never feel someone's lips against hers? Never feel the comfort of holding someone when she was sad? And she couldn't hit anyone ever again…

She stormed back into the pub and saw Grace was missing from the table, so she continued walking out the front door. Alo and Liv came chasing after her, as they must have realized she was pissed off over something.

When she exited the pub, she saw Grace and Rich conversing politely. Grace stopped abruptly when she saw Mini.

"Mini, what's wrong?" Mini turned around to face her and the others who followed her outside.

"That's such a stupid fucking question! What do you think is wrong?" She pointed with one hand to her other hand.

'_That's not fair…_' Rich heard Grace thinking, but what she actually said was very different.

"I know, but we can get through this together -" She said as consolingly as she possibly could.

"Yeah, course we can Mins." Liv said, joining in trying to pacify Mini. However this had the opposite effect on Mini. She seemed to turn red and angry in the space of 0.05 seconds.

"What the actual fuck? You don't even have a power, so don't pretend you know what I'm going through." She turned back around to stalk off, but still continued shouting. "I'm going to get through this _all by myself_, alright?"

Everyone else was left behind, giving each other awkward looks as if they were silently asking, 'should we chase after her or not?'

"And there's someone for you to fix in there, Gracie." Mini said, turning her head around slightly to tell Grace, but she still continued to walk fast herself.

Grace silently left to go back into the pub, as if it was her duty to heal whoever it was that needed healing. Rich then understood why Grace had that power – she was the fixer of her group of friends. She fixed people emotionally and now she was just moving up a level.

Alo finally took a decision to go after Mini, but Rich thought this was a shitty idea. Alo started off at a jogging pace, then got faster and then faster and even faster until he has turned into a blur. He ran in a circle and fell right at Rich's feet, which knocked him over. He was out of breath and his eyes were widened. Mini continued walking, but Liv was coming over looking just as shocked as Alo and Rich were. Alo stood up slowly.

"How fucking awesome was that?"

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><p><strong>AN: There's going to be more going on in the next few chapters, so I'm nervous/excited to write those! Hopefully you're still enjoying it!**

**I can't remember if I replied to the review that asked if it's the same probation worker as in the series, so I'll just answer it here: Yes, the first one they had :) **

**Thank you so much for your reviews! Please keep reading/alerting/reviewing etc.!**

**TheCheeryCherry x**


	4. Getting Blood From A Stone

_Are you sweet?_

_Are you fresh?_

_Are you strung up by the wrists?_

_We want the young blood…_

_~We Suck Young Blood, Radiohead._

Getting Blood from a Stone

"Hey there baby!" Grace smiled as she recognized Liv's voice and saw her standing casually by the community centre's main entrance. She skipped a little to catch up with her and when she was in touching distance, Liv instantly flung one arm around her.

"Did that Rider dude ask any questions then?" Liv asked quietly, as they both walked towards the locker room. Grace shook her head slowly.

"He was very drunk and when I tried asking questions to see if he knew what happened he passed out." Liv breathed a sigh of relief. They entered the locker room to find Alo speeding around.

"Really low-key here, bruv." Liv said sarcastically, throwing up a hand as if to say '_what the hell?' _

Alo stopped, but couldn't wipe the wide grin off his face. To say the least he was ecstatic about his power. Rich stood off to the side, shaking his head at his best friend. Grace gave him a small smile and waved in his direction, and Rich just nodded civilly back at her before beginning to rummage through the contents of his locker. He was already in his jumpsuit and was just searching for body spray and possibly looking for a hair product to make his shoulder-length hair less of a mess.

Grace went to her locker, which was opposite Rich's, and took her own jumpsuit out of it. She was grinning to herself, as if she had something to say. After glancing a few times back at Rich she finally went to stand by him.

"I healed a little boy in a wheelchair this morning!" She exclaimed and Rich could tell just by looking at her face that she had wanted to tell him that since she entered the locker room. He didn't know why she wanted to tell him and he didn't know why he didn't want to be truthfully honest about his opinion on what she had just said. His opinion was that it was most stupid thing he had heard that morning.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her smile fading quickly. He exhaled deeply before answering.

"Well, it's not very practical…" He muttered, hoping the probation worker would knock on the door and tell them to hurry up or something like that, so he wouldn't have to be a part of this conversation.

"_Practical_?" She repeated. The corners of her mouth were lifting again in pure bewilderment at what he had said.

"You can't save everyone, because that would just… you know, fuck up the world's balance… So you should just not use your power. _Ever."_ It came across rather nasty and it made Grace blink her eyes rapidly in shock, but then she composed herself.

"Okay… So should I have just left Alo as a statue?" She said, mimicking Rich's usual tone of derision. Rich was annoyed that she managed to find such an obvious loophole in his statement, but had to give her credit for coming across so natural at being sarcastic, which was something he wasn't expecting from a girl like Grace.

"Yeah… but you couldn't just leave him like that, could you?" Rich asked, doing extravagant hand gestures to somehow make his point clearer. Grace crossed her arms in protest, so Rich knew this argument wasn't over. He turned away from his locker to brace himself for what she had to say and noticed Alo out of the corner of his eye smirking at this entire conversation.

"By your previous explanation, yes I should have."

"_No_, but that was an exception." Rich sighed and began to regret ever replying to her earlier. He realized, shocked, how different this was to his usual attitude. He would normally fight till the death with someone if he knew he was right.

"_Exception? _How do you know this boy wasn't an exception?" She was evidently getting angrier by the second and Rich was contemplating listening to her thoughts to see if there was something he could say to shut her up. _That would probably mean agreeing with her, _he thought sourly.

"Oh, was he conspicuously turned into stone?" He said, reverting back to his natural sarcasm. Grace shook her head and massaged her temples. Rich took this as a sign the argument was on a pause mode and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"How come you can argue with me like that, but not your friends?" He asked as nicely as he could, but Grace shot her head back up at him.  
>"What do you mean? I can stick up for myself." She wasn't raising her voice now and there was less conviction this time.<p>

"I heard you yesterday when Mini was complaining about her powers. You couldn't say what you were feeling then." Grace looked down at her toes before responding.

"I wish you wouldn't listen to my thoughts, Rich… And I can say how I feel, but only when I have to." She started to walk away from him towards the bathroom, but Liv was still in there changing.

"I don't think you can. You can't say anything that would hurt someone else." Rich said with a shake of his head, as he followed her. Alo was waving his arms wildly at him, as if he was telling him to stop. He tuned into his thoughts, '_She's gonna be pissed! ABORT! ABORT!_'

Grace snapped her head around in Rich's direction and her eyes were watery, but she wasn't crying yet. She wiped at them brusquely, as if her tears annoyed her.

"What's so wrong with that?" She wasn't angry, but she was hurt. Rich didn't know what to say to fix this and didn't know if he should bother.

Liv opened the bathroom door, with a spliff hanging out of her mouth.

"Bathroom's free…" Comprehension dawned on her face when she saw Grace. She turned to Rich angrily. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Nothing…" Grace mumbled, pushing past Liv gently to get inside the bathroom.

"Grace -" Rich started, just before Grace shut the door behind her.

"It's fine, Rich. Everything's fine." She didn't even turn to face him as she said this, but shut the door behind her.

"Mate, you like her." Alo said with the same smirk he was wearing earlier, running quickly over to Rich. Liv stopped glaring and instead raised her eyebrows in surprise. Rich prayed that his cheeks weren't flushed.

"_Shut the fuck up, Alo_."

* * *

><p>Mini yawned as she sauntered into her kitchen. She paused mid-yawn when she saw her Mum's new boyfriend, who had just moved in last week, was making what looked like a sandwich. She considered turning around and going back upstairs, but her stomach grumbled unattractively and so she cleared her throat loudly.<p>

"Oh, hi… Didn't see you there." He mumbled uselessly and Mini rolled her eyes before squeezing past him – being careful not to make physical contact – to get to the bread.

"Where's my Mum?" She asked in a dull tone, while grabbing two slices of bread.

"She went to a spa for the day." Mini lightly shook her head in disbelief. Her Mum _totally_ needed relaxation from her _busy_ schedule. She buttered the bread and tried to stay as far away from Bob, or whatever his name was, so she didn't get another guy turned into stone.

"Don't you have community service to do today?" Mini could hear the judgment in his voice, but continued buttering her bread.

"No, _Bob_." She answered curtly. Of course she did, but she didn't want to see the others being excited over their powers. She despised hers and would do _anything_ to get rid of it. There must be a way for her to get rid of it… She couldn't be stuck with this for the rest of her life, could she? Forever being unable to touch someone, hold someone or kiss someone.

"It's Dylan actually." She shrugged to show that she really couldn't give a shit what his name was. "You shouldn't really cut it like that."

Him correcting her as she cut the cucumber made Mini want to throw something extremely sharp at his head.

"I know what I'm doing, alri—Ouch, SHIT!" She shrieked as she managed to cut one of her fingers. Blood came trickling out and she waved her hand around manically before running to the sink so she could let cold water pour over it.

Dylan for some reason was not fussing around like she had expected him to. She tilted her head a little behind her to see what was happening and saw he was holding his head with two hands as if he had an abnormally painful headache.

She moved away from the sink, so she could search for a plaster but to her dismay the cut was pretty deep and the bleeding had not yet ceased. Dylan was inching closer to her, eyeing up her cut in a semi-creepy way.

"Uhhh… What the hell are you looking at?" Mini snapped. She noticed his eyes grew darker and he was covering up his mouth. He let out a wild groan that made Mini yell out and back away from him as fast as she could. He flung himself towards her and bit down hard on her hand.

"GET. THE. FUCK. OFF. ME!" Mini yelled with all her might. She first thought it might be some sort of fucked-up fetish, but his teeth were far too sharp to be human.

She tried to search for something heavy that she could possibly hit him with, but she realized she had the ability to stop him herself. She had no clue whether or not he was already turning to stone by biting her hand, but she quickened up the process by touching his cheek with her other hand.

She tried to remain calm and still, but she was in excruciating pain and didn't know how much more she could take. Finally his neck was beginning to turn into stone and he must have realized this himself as he let go of her hand in shock. She pushed herself away from him and slid down the cabinet. She watched him as he continued to yell unearthly noises and finally he was made completely out of stone.

She exhaled deeply and tried to contain the tears of shock that were surely going to come if she let them. She stumbled up and with a shaking hand she wrapped a cloth around her other hand in an attempt to stop the blood from flowing.

She picked up her phone and looked up Grace's number in her contacts. She picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" Grace's melodious voice instantly managed to calm down Mini.

"Grace… I need your help." She hated admitting for help, but Grace was the only one who could right now and she was the only one she didn't mind asking for help from.

"Of course. Is this about-" Her voice drifted off and Mini nodded before remembering Grace couldn't actually see her right now.

"Yeah… Will you come now?" She was speaking in a softer tone than she had for a while. The events of what had just happened were still playing on her mind.

* * *

><p>Finally Mini heard a knock at the door and she scrambled up from the sofa to get it. As she yanked the door open, she said,<p>

"Took you long en—What are you all doing here? What the hell, Gracie?" She shouted, staring at the faces of the other members of the community service 'gang'. Rich looked less than bothered to be there, Alo was smiling up at Mini with his hands in his coat pockets. Liv was in the background with her hands on her hips and Grace was standing in front of the others looking eager to get inside the house to sort out whatever mess Mini had made.

"Mini moo, we're a team now!" She may have used her term for endearment like Mini had just used 'Gracie' for her, but there was a hidden anger in Grace's voice as she said this and she raised her eyebrows almost challengingly at her. Rich smirked at this statement as he followed Grace inside.

"Yeah, Mini moo." He said, clearly mocking Mini. She glared at him as he walked past and wondered why he was showing an interest in Grace all of a sudden.  
>"Hey, hey, hey! Have you seen my power?" Alo said, as he whizzed past her. <em>Great, <em>Mini thought miserably, _now he's got one too…_

"Wow, that's great ginger minger." She took pride in the fact that she came up with a nickname so fast.

"How did you all manage to get here during service?" Mini asked, directing her question at Liv.

As Liv walked through the door she noticed Mini's hand and her eyes widened.  
>"It's our lunch break... What is that?" Mini automatically covered her hand with her other hand, but the bloody stain was too obvious to be hidden so easily. The cloth untied and fell to the floor. Liv picked it up and stared, horrified, at Mini's hand.<p>

Grace and Rich were standing over the statue and Grace was about to press her hand to it. She sucked in air in a way to prepare herself for the pain she was about to suffer.

"NO, Gracie! Don't!" Mini shouted, but it was too late… Grace was already stuck to the statue.

"What?" Grace asked, feeling slightly uneasy now.

Soon enough she realized why Mini hadn't wanted her to heal him, because his head slowly started to turn back into human form and blood was dripping from his mouth that was filled with abnormally sharp teeth. She tried to back away from him, while screaming loudly, but she was stuck to him. Rich instinctively grabbed on to Grace to try pull her away, but it was impossible. The man snapped his teeth at her and was edging closer and closer to her as more of his body reverted back to its normal human form.

Alo was holding onto Grace now as well, while Liv pulled on the man and Mini shouted from the sidelines.

Finally he was no longer stone and Grace was pulled backwards into a heap on the floor along with Alo and Rich. Liv let go of the Mini's Mum's boyfriend and moved back against the kitchen cabinet. He was no longer interested in Grace as he could smell something else…. blood.

He stood up slowly and as he did so, Alo whispered audibly,

"A v-vampire!"

**A/N: I kind of like this chapter, so that probably means nobody else will like it :P **

**It's getting a bit dramatic, right? Again thanks for all the reviews and please continue to do so, because they really make my day! If you haven't reviewed before but are reading the fic I would love to hear from you!**

**Oh, and just for fun who's side are you on in the Rich vs. Grace argument? Don't worry it'll all be sorted out soon between them ;)**

**Also we will discover Liv's power very soon, so place your bets! **

**Sorry for the super long note, but this was a very long chapter so I felt like this section had to be long!**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry x**


	5. There Will Be Blood

_If you want blood, you've got it_

_Blood on the streets,_

_Blood on the rocks_

_Every last drop._

_If You Want Blood, AC/DC_

There Will Be Blood

* * *

><p>As he walked towards Mini, whose hand was exposed to bring out the tasty scent of fresh blood, the others backed away more and Liv stayed still by the kitchen cabinet. Mini breathed in and out slowly before he was within touching distance of her. She raised her hand and threateningly held it close to his face. He seemed to remember what had happened before as he abruptly turned and looked at Liv.<p>

Mini took a sharp intake of breath when she saw that Liv was still clutching the cloth covered in Mini's blood that had now wiped on to Liv's skin. There were a few shouts of terror from Liv as Dylan got ever so slightly closer to her.

"_Liv!_" Mini shouted, when Dylan lunged at Liv and tackled her to the ground.

She ran towards him angrily and tried to hold onto him so he couldn't suck on her blood any longer. However he knew she was approaching and with a lazy flick of his hand he managed to send her flying into the cabinet opposite. He hit her in her stomach so he managed to avoid touching her skin. She lay against the cabinet quietly with the air knocked out of her. She turned to see what was happening now and could see Rich and Alo both trying to get him off her, but even they couldn't match the strength of this vampire. She could see Liv's twitching hand escaping underneath the weight of Dylan and without really thinking she held out her own hand and held tightly onto Liv's hand. She hoped Liv would turn into stone quickly, but in fact nothing happened… Nothing at all.

Grace blocked the way of Mini's vision and motioned for her to stand up.

"Come on, Mini!" She said in an urgent tone. Mini fumbled into a standing position and reluctantly let go of Liv's hand. She walked quickly after Grace, turning back over her shoulder to see him still biting into her neck.

Grace held the door open to the cupboard under the stairs and shut it after Mini squeezed herself in. Rich and Alo were sitting on the far side and Grace was next to Mini. Everyone seemed to squeeze closer together when Mini got inside, so that they didn't risk touching her. With a roll of her eyes, Mini locked the door to keep Bob Dylan from getting inside.

"So are we just going to stay here while Liv gets killed out there?... Or worse turned into the V-word." Mini said grouchily, looking at the worried faces that sat around her and she instantly felt bad for being so snappy because they were just as worried as her.

"What? A virgin?" Alo said, obviously trying to keep the mood light. Mini glared at him.

"You know what -" Mini started in an aggressive tone, before Grace interrupted.

"Mini, I will heal her as soon as we go back out… We need a plan." Grace said, her brain obviously whirring with ideas.

"Why didn't you say anything about him being… that?" Rich asked, while peeling off some of the falling plaster from the wall.

"Why don't you just read my mind and find out?" Mini asked testingly, which earned her a degrading look from Rich. "Gracie, can you fix this?"

Mini pointed at her still bleeding hand. She wondered for a moment if she could possibly turn into a vampire from getting bitten, but she had watched enough vampire movies and tv shows to know that wasn't how it worked. She would've had to bite him back.

Grace nodded and was about to touch the wound before Alo threw his hand in the way.

"NO!" He shouted, while Mini and Grace gave him puzzled looks. Grace still moved her hand closer to Mini before Rich grabbed onto Grace's arm and pulled her away.

"He's right." He said simply, nodding for acknowledgement in Alo's direction. "She'll turn you to stone if you try to heal her… Who'll turn you back then?"

Grace and Rich stared at each other for a moment, but Grace eventually broke eye contact and nodded to show she understood. Mini didn't say anything, but showed she understood as well by dropping her hand again.

There was a loud shout from the living room that sounded just like Liv, so everyone was brought quickly back to the matter at hand

"What's the plan then?" Mini asked in a rushed voice.

"I need to fix Liv and you need to turn him back to stone for the time being." Grace said.

"But I tried that before and it didn't work. He hit me off before I could get to him." Mini said with a defeated sigh. She didn't mention the part about her touching Liv and nothing happening, because it would just lead to more questions and they didn't have time for questions.

"Aha, I think I might be able to help with that!" Alo said with no attempt to hide his excitement.

"How?" Mini asked with her eyebrows raised. Alo cleared his throat before proudly continuing on about how he could help her.

"You hold on to the sleeve of my shirt and ZOOM!" Grace and Rich nodded their heads in unison at the idea.

"You and Mini go out first then, Alo. I'll go out afterwards -" Grace began before Rich interrupted in a rather annoyed tone.

"Hold on a fucking minute! What am I doing while all this is going on?" Grace chewed on her bottom lip, as if she had an idea what he should be doing but didn't want to tell him.

"Grace?" He asked, probing her to tell him what it was. She shook her head, which forced Rich to tune into what she was thinking.

'_Bait._'

"I'll do it." He said compliantly, looking ready to leave.

"I can't ask you to do that…" Grace said in a near whisper.

"For those of us who don't know what Grace's thinking, what the fuck is happening?" Alo asked, while Mini awkwardly twisted her mouth to show she didn't have a clue what was happening either.

"Rich is going to tempt the… vampire away from Liv, so I can get to her quicker. And I can leave before you two go then." Grace said slowly and when she glanced at Rich after she finished, she gave him a small smile. She was still slightly annoyed about the argument they had earlier, but she wasn't one to hold grudges especially when more important things were happening right now.

They whispered the plan once so they were all on the same page. Rich was going to go out first with a small cut on his finger, which would hopefully lure Dylan away from Liv. Then Grace would be able to sneak out and quickly get to Liv. Alo and Mini would leave the room straight after Grace had left and turn Dylan back into stone.

"Ready then?" Rich asked, glancing from Grace to Mini to Alo. Grace gave a little nod, Mini took a deep breath and Alo didn't look fazed at all.

"Let's kill this fuckin' vampire then!" Alo called with a hand raised in the air for someone to give him a high-five, but nobody did so he put it down again.

"Shhh… We're not killing him, Alo." Grace whispered with a slightly worried expression on her face.

"So I'll just go now then." Rich said, climbing over Grace's legs to get to the tiny door.

"Good luck – Oh, you need to cut your -" Grace exclaimed, but a loud bang on the door made her freeze.

"I don't think he'll need to." Mini said quietly as there was now a scratching sound on the door. "He can still smell my blood."

Rich breathed heavily and went to open the door. Grace was about to stop him, but realized they still had to follow the plan. Mini pushed Rich out when he took long to leave and slammed the door behind him. She ran a hand through her hair while receiving a questioning look from Grace.

"What? He was just dawdling!" She said, heaving a sigh as she shuffled into a crouching position by the door. "Let's go then, ginger."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Alo said, giving a goofy salute in her direction.

"I'm supposed to go first…" Grace objected.  
>"If you go out there you're going to get bitten too, because he's right out there! It'll all go balls-up." Mini said, while Alo snorted at the last comment. Grace reluctantly shrugged, she hated it when Mini spoke to her like that but there wasn't anything she could really do about it.<p>

Mini and Alo left quickly and Grace sat by herself for a second. She rather enjoyed the closed off feeling of the cupboard and she felt a bit like Harry Potter, but the shouts from outside brought her back to reality and she knew she had to go and do her job.

She snuck out of the cupboard and saw Rich lying on the floor clutching onto his throat, while Alo stood over him trying to see if he was okay. Mini looked successful this time around in turning Dylan back into stone. Grace left the action and headed straight to the kitchen area where she saw Liv lying on the floor, making no movements.

"Liv?" She asked in a slightly panicked voice, as she knelt down beside her.

Liv was still clearly breathing, which made Grace relax a little. She searched for a bite wound on Liv's neck but couldn't find one. There was nothing there for Grace to heal…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay the ending for this chapter wasn't very good, but let's just ignore that! Haha. So let me know what you thought about this chapter, because I really love your reviews! **

**Oh and there were plenty of hints here about what Liv's power will be so you probably all know what it is already. :P**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	6. The A Team

_In springtime, We light a fire_

_Underneath the dark sky_

_I take some time, to read your mind_

_You are shy, but so am I_

_We´ll live forever_

_Young Dreams ~ Young Dreams_

The A Team

* * *

><p>Grace could see Liv's chest gently rising and falling, so she knew she was still alive. Grace dared to feel for a pulse even though she didn't know what the pulse rate per minute should be. She kept her hand right on Liv's neck to feel for it, where Dylan had been sucking the blood from just a few moments earlier, and was happy when there was a distinct rhythm in the pulse rate.<p>

Suddenly Liv's eye popped open and made Grace immediately fall backwards in surprise. Liv took a deep breath and looked surprised herself that she was waking up. She touched her neck almost absentmindedly before sitting up and looking at Grace.

"H-how are you okay?" Grace asked in a timid voice, bringing her legs up to her chest as she continued to sit right by Liv's side.

"_What_?" Liv asked, her eyebrows furrowed and looking at Grace as if she had gone crazy.

"Liv!" Mini squealed happily, unexpectedly entering the kitchen and sitting down on the other side of Liv. She gave Grace a grateful smile for helping out.

"I didn't do anything…" Grace mumbled in response to Liv's question and to Mini's appreciativeness.

"How is she okay then?" Mini asked, glancing from Liv to Grace. Liv stayed still, staring off to Dylan's statue and where Rich lay with Alo hovering over him.

"I think she might have a power…" Grace started to say, examining Liv closely. "Invincibility? She healed herself after all."

Mini stared down at her hands and was reminded of when Liv and her held hands and she hadn't turned to stone. Did this mean Mini could touch Liv without having to worry about her power? Was this because Liv was invincible? Or something else?

"I… touched you earlier. I thought, maybe, I could turn you into stone… to save you, but nothing happened." Mini said slowly and awkwardly, wringing her hands in her lap. She glanced up at Liv and gave a small smile. Then she turned to look at Grace. "Maybe it's… immunity?"

"Oooh… Maybe it's both?" Grace suggested with a smile starting to spread across her face, but it wasn't quite reaching her eyes.

Liv held out her hand a little unsurely, but when she saw Mini's face, which was a mixture of nervousness and excitement, Liv cracked a smile.

Grace found it difficult to hide her jealously as Liv and Mini held hands and everything seemed to be fine. She knew this would bring them closer together and she would be flung aside.

Liv and Mini both let out disbelieving laughter and hugged each other tightly, as Grace looked on.

"You have no idea how great this feels!" Mini said happily into Grace's shoulder, as Liv rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Gracie!" Grace yelped, as Alo popped up by her side with a worried expression. He looked apologetic when he saw Grace clutching her chest in fright. "Sorry… It's just Rich kinda needs you over there."

Alo gestured over his shoulder and Grace nodded to show she was on her way. She glanced over back at her two best friends, but they were too busy with their bonding to notice that Grace was leaving them. She stood up and ran over to the other side of the room.

Alo continued to stand over Rich in a state of worry over his best friend. Rich was still awake, but looked like he was in pain. Grace hurriedly placed her hand over his bloody wound.

For a split second Rich enjoyed the feel of Grace's warm hand against his skin, but almost immediately afterwards there was a sensation that reminded him of getting especially sticky chewing gum stuck to the sole of your barefoot. It was an uncomfortable feeling to say the least and he let out a groan.

"Everything's better!" Grace said in a cheery tone. He looked up to see her smiling face hovering over him and he somehow felt better after that. Then he saw Alo standing behind her looking relieved to have his best mate healthy again.

"Uhh… About earlier – I didn't mean that. I mean, I did at the time, but there are a _few_ exceptions I guess." He said in possibly the most awkward way possible. Grace looked away for a second in an attempt to hide the smile off her face at his version of an apology.

"I'm sorry as well. You were right, I can't just save everyone I want to." She said quietly, as she was secretly just as stubborn as Rich was when it came to who was right and wrong.

They shared a smile and Grace helped him stand up. Liv and Mini walked over as well with their arms linked. They were all standing around the statue and probably were all thinking the same thing.

"What the fuck do we do with this guy now?" Liv finally said. The others wrinkled their faces in concentration.

"Smash him up?" Alo asked, but the rest of the gang took that as a joke.

"How about we just chuck him at the garbage site?" Liv asked.

"Maybe you could keep him in the garden?" Grace asked, but she wasn't being entirely serious. Rich was the only one who smirked at it, but Grace thought it was quite funny.

"I could tell my Mum he left, she wasn't really attached to him anyway... We could pack his suitcase and take him and the bag down to a skip… It could work." Mini mused. Nobody else had a better idea, so they all nodded in agreement.

Grace hated the idea that he would never wake up again, but he couldn't really do good in the world.

"Some _Twilight_ shit here, right?" Alo asked as they all stayed standing around and looking at Dylan.

"Meh… I prefer _True Blood_." Mini said with a small smirk. Alo took this as an opportunity to discuss their current predicaments with the powers.

"So… Are we like the A-Team now or something?" He said, failing to try and hide his enthusiasm.

"Not really, Alo." Rich said with a shake of his head. The others started to disperse and began to get everything organized for the skip drop-off.

* * *

><p>"Everything's ready! Come on, Liv." Grace said, trying to pull Liv out of the house. Rich and Alo were in the van waiting impatiently. Liv scrunched up her face and Mini stood in the doorway pulling Liv back inside.<p>

"She's got to stay here and play Doctor for me." She said laughing as she pointed at her hand. It was now wrapped up in proper bandaging, so Grace didn't really see why Liv couldn't come back to Community service, but she dropped the subject.

"Well, we're going to the pub later… You two will come, right?" Grace asked, trying to sound her normal cheery self. Liv and Mini exchanged glances before both of them nodded.

"Sure, Gracie." Liv said.

Grace waved and got into the van next to Rich.

"Liv not coming?" Alo asked, sounding as confused as Grace felt.

"No…" Grace replied, immediately hating the fact that she sounded so sulky.

* * *

><p>Rich sat at the bar waiting for Grace to arrive. She had stayed in the locker room after Rich and Alo had left to get ready and to wait for her friends to get here. Alo was over at the other side of the bar trying to hit on some bimbo looking girl, who Alo didn't have a chance.<p>

Rich shook his head with a laugh and pointed at his drink to signal to Nick that he needed another one.

"There you go." Nick said, handing him over a bottle of the same beer. "Is that girl from yesterday going to be coming back?"

Rich didn't know whom he meant, but he had a feeling he was talking about Mini, because of that huge scene she had created yesterday.

"The blonde one?" He asked a little unsurely. Nick nodded eagerly and Rich narrowed his eyes. "_Why_?"

"She was _hot_." Rich rolled his eyes, because he had been thinking it was something much more important than just how 'bangable' she was.

"Rich?" A feminine voice from behind him caught his attention and he turned around slightly in his bar stool.

He widened his eyes in surprise as he saw who it was. Franky Fitzgerald. She was a girl who was at his and Alo's college. She was petite with short brown hair, an androgynous look and to top that all off was a little… well, clingy. Rich had liked her well enough, but she had developed an obvious crush on him and Rich had kept his distance from her since, because she had begun to send him weird texts.

"This is crazy! What are you doing here?" She said in a seemingly casual voice, but there was something dark in her eyes that made Rich think it wasn't such a casual meeting.

"Uh… I'm doing community service. Nice to see you." He said hoping this was just a quick hello and goodbye conversation. Then he muttered under his breath as he took another sip of his beer, "Kind of…"

"It's great to see you too." She was much more enthusiastic than he was and he knew she hadn't heard his last statement. She gave a long pause and chewed on her a lower lip for a moment. "Maybe we should… go out for a drink sometime. Or now if you're not busy?"

"I'm waiting for some people… Oh -" Rich couldn't say another word when he saw Grace head over to where he was sitting, because she looked lovely in a pale pink dress with a floral design on it. Her hair was down, which he had never seen on her before and he reluctantly realized in that moment that he liked her.

"Hi Rich." She said with a mischievous smile, which suggested she had seen Rich looking at her with his approving grin. Then she saw Franky standing there and looking momentarily flustered. "Oh hi, I'm Grace."

"I was leaving." Franky said in a rather annoyed voice and turned to leave. Grace raised her eyebrows, but took a seat next to Rich. There was a moment of silence before Rich cleared his throat to say something.

"So Liv and Mini aren't coming?" He knew he sounded a bit too hopeful about this. Grace just shook her head.

"They're watching a film or something." Rich didn't mean to, but he listened to her thoughts.

'_How much longer until they just ignore me completely…. Stop talking to me at service… Stop texting me…_'

"They'll be back tomorrow though." Grace turned to look up at Rich and then she smiled sadly.

"I wish you wouldn't listen to my thoughts, Richard…" Then she gave a toothy smile, which was quickly becoming his favorite smile of hers. "It's not fair seeing as I don't know what you're thinking."

He gave a nervous laugh before taking another sip of his beer. Grace was still looking up at him expectantly, as if he was actually going to tell her what he was thinking.

"Well… uh… I think you're kind of nice and they're being bitches right now." Grace couldn't help but laugh at the awkward statement and Rich ended up joining in as well.

"Gracie, you joined the party!" Alo shouted as he came and threw his arms around both Grace and Rich.

"Yes I did, Alopops." She said smiling.

"What happened to that girl you were talking to over there?" Rich asked, even though he just seen the girl slap him out of the corner of his eye a moment ago.

"Not my type." Alo said simply with a shrug of his shoulders. "Shots?"

They spent the next two hours doing shots and talking about their home lives. Alo lived on a farm, Rich lived in a standard middle class house and hated his parents, whilst Grace lived in quite a big house and Rich and Alo learnt she had a twat for a father – David Blood, the Headmaster of their old college. Grace, Mini and Liv had gone to an all-girls school for sixth-form. Rich thought this revelation would have made him automatically start to dislike Grace, but it didn't really affect his opinion of her.

Grace eventually said her goodbyes and failed to notice the glare she was receiving from Franky. She left the pub and staggered in the direction of where she lived. It was getting dark and Grace wished she hadn't lied and told the boys she was getting a lift home. She honestly didn't trust them to walk her back home, but now she wished she had some company.

She stopped at a wall so she could lean on it in an attempt to clear her head slightly. When she set off to walk again she could hear the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned her head and to her disbelief there was nobody there.

"He-hello?" She called out a little uneasily. It was uselessly pitch black and she gave up squinting to look for someone there.

She turned back around and was instantly grabbed around the throat by a small hand. She tried to scream, but no sound came out…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hope you enjoy this chapter and the little cliffhanger there! I probably won't be able to update for a while because I'm going to be busy with exams and then I'm going on holiday, but I will try to if I have time! :)**

**Now that everything has been revealed I thought I would give a little reasoning behind the powers:**

**Mini – She usually tries to isolate herself from people and can come across as quite a cold bitch haha, so I thought it would be interesting to give her this power.**

**Rich – Well Grace explained it pretty well in a few chapters back. He judges people on appearances so this power allows him to actually find out more about people before he judges them. That's how he started falling for Grace.**

**Grace – She, by nature, likes to sort out people's problems and is always there for her friends. I kind of see her as an emotional healer already, but now with this power she's also a physical one.**

**Alo – I gave him this power simply because in his series 6 episode he said that line, 'Maybe they weren't running fast enough!'**

**Liv – Invincibility and immunity because I thought she needed a double combo power. Also in her series 5 episode she drank so much alcohol that I thought she would die or something, so I think she's very strong.**

**Thank you to the two people who have been reviewing every week and those on tumblr who have been motivating me with the story. AND YOU MEGAN FOR HELPING ME SO MUCH!**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry x**


	7. Frankystein's Grace

Chapter 7 – Frankystein's Grace

Grace adjusted her eyes to the darkened room she was in. Just yesterday she had imagined Harry Potter as she sat in that cupboard under the stairs and now she really was in a cupboard. She sat up and held onto the side of her head as her dizziness suddenly hit. She pushed on the door, secretly praying it would be open but it was locked. The room was pitch black and all she had was a flashlight, which she was so _kindly _given. No windows and there was so little space that even though she had never worried about claustrophobia before, she did now. And she was alone. She knew where Franky was – at community service stealing her identity.

* * *

><p>"Thank fuck it's the weekend tomorrow." Liv muttered while trying to light up her cigarette. Mini excitedly pulled on Liv's arm to bring her closer.<p>

"Wow I completely forgot! We should do something, right?" Mini pulled the cigarette from Liv's lips so she could 'have a turn'.

"Yeah… Just not another shitty sappy movie, okay?" Liv said while Mini let out a laugh at the memory of the terrible movie they watched the night before.

"Okay… I have to get out of the house anyway because my Mum is stuck to the couch with a box of tissues." Mini complained. Her Mum was distraught after finding out Dylan had left her. Mini wondered what her Mum would say if she found out the real reason Dylan had suddenly left without a word.

"Ouch… Did she believe that you just cut your arm when cooking?" Liv asked, while gesturing to Mini's bandaged arm. Mini let out a snort at this question.

"She didn't even ask about it." They turned the corner of the community center and could now see the entrance clearly.

"Mini!" A male voice called out which made both girls stop in their tracks and turn around. Mini widened her eyes as she saw Nick jogging towards her.

"Nick, right?" Mini asked with what she hoped was one of her more attractive smiles. He nodded and seemed to be slightly out of breath.

"Why are you all sweaty?" Liv asked with a crinkle of her nose. Nick checked himself over before replying.

"I run every morning around this area." Mini chewed on her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling. Being fit was number one on her list of male requirements.

"Well we've got to go inside…" Mini said slowly to show that she didn't really want to leave him but she had to.

"Uhm… Can I ask you something?" Nick asked just as Liv and Mini were turning around to leave. Mini simply nodded in response and her mind was whirring with possible questions he might have to ask her.

"Do you want to go out tonight? Like a date or something… Nothing serious." Mini nearly widened her eyes at Nick's apparent nervousness and the fact that he was even asking this. She opened her mouth to say she would love to, but closed it when she remembered about her power. She instead sighed heavily and shook her head.

"I-I can't. I really do want to but my Mum's been a grump and grounded me for getting caught shoplifting." She tried to make it sound as badass as possible, but getting caught nearly reduced her to tears at the time when she had imagined what she'd look like in an orange jumpsuit.

"Oh… Okay. Maybe some other time then." Mini nodded eagerly just before Nick jogged off. She frowned and continued to walk towards the entrance. Liv furrowed her eyebrows as she followed Mini.

"Why didn't you say yes?" Mini jutted out her chin in annoyance because she thought it was clearly obvious why she said no. She waved one hand in Liv's face as a reminder.

"Hello? If he even tries to touch me he'll start looking like he belongs in Trafalger Square."

"Okay calm down." Liv said while backing away from her slightly as she headed into the locker room. She immediately noticed a stranger by Grace's locker with short hair, but when she blinked she saw Grace. She shook her head before ignoring what she had just seen.

"Hi!" Grace called with a wave. Her smile didn't seem to quite reach her eyes as if there was something playing on her mind. "You missed a great time last night?"

"Are you okay, Gracie?" Liv asked slowly, walking to her own locker so she could get her horrendous orange jumpsuit out. Grace let out a small laugh to show she was absolutely fine.

"Me? I'm fine and dandy!" Now Mini seemed to be taken back by her response and her and Liv shared a puzzled look. "Oh, there's Rich!"

Grace skipped off to talk to Rich who had just entered the locker room with Alo.

"Fine and dandy?" Mini asked before snorting at the ridiculous phrase Grace had started using. Liv smiled but she felt uneasy about what she had seen.

"Hey guys," Grace began with a small wave. She had clearly been in the locker room a while as she was the only one in her jumpsuit.

"Hey…" Rich replied, returning the wave a little awkwardly. Alo gave him one pat on the shoulder before walking off. Rich stared at his feet and mumbled some unintelligible words before looking back up at Grace. _I practiced this with Alo… It's easy… Just say it… Now… _

"So… Do you want to uhh -"

"Yes?" Grace asked patiently with big innocent eyes peering up at him. Her eyes made him uneasy and he considered reading her thoughts to know where he stood with her but then he stopped himself because he had kind of promised her he wouldn't.

"Err… It doesn't matter." He nodded and started to go in the direction of his own locker.

"Do you want to go out for dinner with me tonight?" She asked, making him stop in his tracks. He started to grin which made her small smile brighten to spread across her face.

"Uhm… Yeah, I do." He was about to walk off when he realized he had no idea what time he was supposed to be meeting her. "What time?"

"How about half seven? Meet at the pub first?" She said, still smiling at him. He nodded and then walked to his locker.

Alo gave him a thumbs up with a questioning look on his face, but when he saw Rich grinning he knew the date had been sorted.

"Guys, I've got a date with Rich tonight!" Grace said in an excited whisper to her two friends. Mini raised her eyebrows in surprise and distaste even though she tried to hide her distaste. Liv raised one eyebrow pointedly as well.

"Didn't know you two had a thing going on." Liv stated before Mini could say anything. Grace looked confused by Liv's sentence and took a while to say anything back.

"Well... We do now." She gave an awkward smile as Mini muttered, "Whatever" but with a smile to show she wasn't trying to be mean.

"Give us all the juicy details afterwards!... Actually not all of them." She crinkled her nose and shuddered as she thought about Rich in any sexual activity.

Grace gave a semi-forced laugh, which Liv noticed. Her eyes seemed to grow darker all of a sudden and Liv could no longer ignore it.

"What's up with your eyes, Gracie?" Grace's face paled over, but her eyes stayed black as night. She tried to look away from Liv's piercing stare, as she backed away.

"Nothing! I just need the bathroom." And she ran off in the direction of the nearest one. Liv turned around to Mini who was looking at her orange jumpsuit with a frown.

"Did you just see that?" Mini looked up in confusion.

"No... What?" Liv shook her head in reply. Maybe it was all in her head.

* * *

><p>"Liv? What are you doing here?" Mini asked as she scraped her hair back into a ponytail. She had only just said bye to Liv two hours ago. She glanced up at the wall clock in the living room as Liv led the way to the sofa – it was now seven PM.<p>

"I was going to convince you to go out for a drink with Nick." Liv rushed her words as she could tell Mini was about to argue with her. "Just because you can't… touch him doesn't mean you can't have a good time!"

"Oh, how did you come to that conclusion?" She asked with a small laugh of bafflement as she crossed her arms. Liv rummaged in her small shoulder bag for something, which certainly made Mini a little bit curious.

"Ta da! Borrowed them from my Mum… Well, temporarily stole them, but who cares?" Liv threw a pair of long gloves at Mini and she caught them with a scowl.

"This may have been popular in the 80s, but not anymore." She held them at arms' length as a sign for Liv to take them back. She saw Liv's smile fade and Mini tried to look a little happier. "Look thanks Liv," Mini started while pulling Liv in for a brief hug. "But I really don't want to go. I do like him and if I didn't have this stupid _curse _you know I would be totally after him. Now though… I would just be torturing myself if I went out with him. Sorry."

"Hey, I understand…" Liv pulled Mini in for another hug and Mini relaxed instantly. Liv had other things still on her mind though and her motives for coming over here weren't just about Mini and her date. She sighed.

"Do you want tea?" Liv shook her head, but Mini still headed into the kitchen to make a cup for herself.

"Do you think…. Have you noticed anything weird about Grace today?" Liv started while Mini filled the kettle with water. She looked back over her shoulder to see Liv and started to laugh.

"You mean apart from 'I'm fine and dandy!'? Nope." Mini was still smiling until she noticed Liv's gloomy expression. "Shit… What did _you_ notice?"

Mini was frowning at Liv and she considered telling Mini about what she had noticed. She had first seen a complete stranger standing by Grace's locker before she turned into Grace and then her eyes were turning blacker by the second in the locker room.

Eventually Liv shook her head.

"Nothing. I must just be imagining things." Mini continued frowning for a second before beginning to smile again.

"Hey, she's got that big date with Richina tonight! She's probably nervous about it." Liv slowly began to nod.

"Yeah… Wait Richina?" Mini raised an eyebrow in disappointment that Liv didn't get her joke.

"His naff hair? It makes him look like a girl, so Richina…" She said slowly, hoping Liv would eventually laugh.

"Oh, right." Mini was starting to get concerned for Liv, because normally Mini was the one moping around about her power but Liv was the strong one who went with whatever.

"How about we go out tonight? Oceana?" Mini asked, hoping Liv would be up for it.

"Yeah, sure." Liv said, trying to sound excited but she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Or something bad was already happening to Grace.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm finally back! (And let's ignore the fact that I'm back with a really boring chapter)<strong>

**I've finished the official (and confidential) plan for the rest of this story and it's going to have 12 chapters… AND there's going to be a sequel!**

**Okay so for every review I get from now I will reveal a teaser for what's to happen in the rest of the story. HOPEFULLY this will motivate more of you to review and it'll be nice to give you all little teasers. :)**

**SO 5 chapters left and still so much is left to happen!**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	8. Date Fright

_Chapter 8 – Date Fright._

Grace sat quietly in the small cupboard as she heard Franky walking back and forth, busily getting ready for something. The light entering in the crack between the door and the floor was welcoming for Grace as the light was never turned on in the cupboard so for the past day she had been in nearly total darkness. She leaned against the door, trying to make out any noises from outside. She had no idea what Franky wanted; she was just pretending to be Grace.

"Could you please just turn on the light?" She asked in a loud, clear voice. There was no reply, but she knew that Franky had heard her. She inhaled deeply, trying to be brave which was one of the most difficult tasks she had ever had to do.

"What do you want?" Grace asked, pressing her ear hard against the door and she swore she heard Franky exhale. She glanced down at the crack of light and saw Franky's shadow growing larger, so she assumed she was walking closer.

"You wouldn't understand." She sounded exasperated when she responded like she had experience of people not understanding her and this pushed Grace to try get through to her.

"Maybe you could tell me and I might be able -" She was cut off by a condescending bout of laughter coming from the other side of the door.

"What? Help me?" The harshness of her tone brought Grace back to reality. This person had kidnapped her, why was she trying to be nice to her? This person was obviously past the point of help.

She slumped back in her seat and searched blindly for her flashlight so she could find the small packets of crackers that she knew was somewhere around her. Just before the front door slammed shut, the cupboard light turned on revealing a bottle of water and crisps in the far corner of the room.

* * *

><p>Mini was finding it difficult to restrict her movements on the packed dance floor. Liv was moving freely, but Mini had to make sure the exposed part of her arms was not in risk of touching any innocent dancers who were grinding close to her. Liv pulled her closer and she couldn't help but laugh as Liv moved Mini's arms to get her to loosen up.<p>

"Isn't this fun?" Liv shouted over the music, laughing into Mini's ear. She grinned back and nodded in reply. Liv spun her around to do a full circle, but Mini only managed a semi circle as she noticed three guys she did not want to meet right now. She quickly snapped back around to face Liv and held onto her shoulders.

"This was a bad idea." Mini said hurriedly with widened eyes. Liv shrugged and raised her eyebrows in obvious confusion. Before Mini could explain, she heard the faint shout behind her.

"MCGUINNESS!" Liv looked around Mini's shoulder and her mouth formed a perfect 'O' shape when she saw who was there. Mini stood beside Liv and waved awkwardly at Alo, Nick and unfortunately Rider as well.

"Ginger minge," She said as a way of greeting. It already felt awkward as Nick had a completely baffled look on his face and Rider seemed to be laughing silently at something. Liv seemed to be communicating with just her eyes in Alo's direction.

"Is it 80's night or something, Mini?" Rider said in his obnoxious, grating voice, whilst pointing at her outfit. She rolled her eyes, but regretfully had to agree that her outfit was reminiscent of 80's attire. She had the big hoop earrings, satin gloves, black dress and the fishnet biker shorts. She narrowed her eyes at him before shouting,

"All I know is it's not _Twat Night_, so maybe you should fuck off." Alo clapped his hands together once as a way to break the awkwardness.

"Drinks anyone?" Liv quickly nodded and joined him, but also pulled Rider away with her. Mini was now stuck with just Nick and her guilt for lying to him earlier that day was building. He sucked on his lips before asking her,

"Thought you were grounded?" Mini did her best attempt at a smile and let a small, fake laugh escape her lips.

"She went out tonight, so she couldn't exactly stop me." She said, pretty satisfied with that explanation. "Anyway I don't have your number so I couldn't let you know."

He seemed to buy it and held out a hand to dance with her. She grabbed onto it and began to move closer to him. He was about to put his hands on her upper arms, but she quickly guided them to her hips.

"I can give you my number later." He whispered into her ear. She grinned; it was so easy for her to forget that she had anything wrong with her and to play along with the fantasy that there could be a future for her and Nick.

* * *

><p>"Is that seriously all you're eating?" Rich asked, pointing at the salad that was sitting in front of Grace. He had ribs and chips on his plate, which looked like a mountain compared with Grace's. She gave a small nod.<p>

"Yes, didn't you expect Gr- me to eat salads?" She looked away from him and back to her own plate. He stuffed a few chips into his mouth and shook his head. This was feeling much more awkward than the previous night. She seemed to be acting weird; he had to restrain himself from tuning into her thoughts because he knew she wouldn't like it if he did, but there was something not right.

"Err…Did you sort things out with Mini and Liv then?" He asked, trying his best at making conversation. She glanced up at him and her eyebrows furrowed together as if she wasn't sure if they were friends again or not.

"Yes, totally… Everything's great!" She said smiling. She took another bite of her salad.

_This isn't working, _Franky thought. She tried to be like Grace, but she didn't know Grace well enough to give an accurate portrayal and now things were becoming more awkward by the second. Maybe it was time to mention things she knew Rich would like... Over the years since she had liked him, she had discovered all about his favorite food, music, movies etc. Now was probably the time to use that knowledge.

Franky contemplated what to say next as Rich cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Could you -"

"What do you think -?"

Grace blushed and Rich gave a half smile. He gestured at her for to continue.

"What do you think of Napalm Death?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise at the question and he shook his head in disbelief.

"You've heard of them?" He sat back in his seat, intrigued to know how she even knew about them.

"I love them!" She said excitedly, leaning forward. "I've listened to their album _Law of the Leech_ over and over again."

Rich looked pained when she said that and gave her a scrutinizing look. "_Order_ of the Leech is great, yeah."

Franky wanted to kick herself; it had been over a year since she feigned interest in Napalm Death, so obviously she was a little rusty. The empty silence settled again.

"What were you going to say anyway?" She asked, putting on a bright face. Rich paused, trying to remember what it was and with a deadpan expression said,

"Could you pass the salt?"

* * *

><p>"You're amazing." Nick said with a stupid smile on his face, as he passed his cigarette to Mini. She took it in one hand and began to laugh.<p>

"How am I amazing?" She put the cigarette to her lips, but kept looking at him from the corner of her eye. He was staring intently at her.

It was nice now, because they no longer had to yell at each other. He wanted a cigarette so they came out the side entrance so that he could light up. It was a slightly scary location as the side entrance led out to a dim alleyway, but at least there weren't many people. He had taken her by her gloved hand and led her to a more secluded area that had one bright light shining down on them.

"You don't even know how amazing you are," He said, moving to stand in front of her and holding her lightly by the wrists. She shook her arms to get her attention on him.

"I know I'm amazing, but you've only known me five minutes." She said looking him in the eye and smirking. He bit down on his bottom lip before continuing on.

"I really want to kiss you right now." She sighed at this and removed her arms from his. Her fantasy was quickly crumbling around her, as she realized this couldn't happen… ever.

"That's really not a good idea." He edged closer to her and Mini didn't know if she could resist him, but thankfully there was a clattering sound from the far off corner that she could use as a distraction. "What was that?"

"I didn't hear anything." Nick said, not even flinching at the concern in her voice. He knew she wanted to kiss him; she had made it plainly obvious that she was interested in him from the beginning and now she was backing out?

His lips pressed against hers for a brief second and Mini didn't pull away like she should have.

"Give me the bag." Mini opened her eyes and saw a blonde hair guy standing in front of them, holding a small, yet sharp knife. He looked like he was around their age and was well-built. She let out an ear piercing scream as she backed up further against the wall. Nick stood in front of Mini, acting like a shield. She scrambled to pull her bag off her arm so she could give it to him.

"Don't give it Mini." Nick said, as he walked closer to the guy and shoved him. The guy kicked Nick back, so he stumbled backwards but he still managed to get his balance in the end.

"He's got a fucking knife!" Mini shouted, before throwing the bag on the floor. The guy grinned and snatched it up. Nick still fought back, punching him in the nose. The guy stiffened as he felt the blood trickling out of his nose.

The next part confused Mini more than anything else; he held up a hand as if it were a gun. It was like silly school children who pretend their hands are guns, but for them it was always pretend. This guy pulled the trigger of his imaginary gun and a firing noise echoed around the alley. Mini knew the sound was too real to be fake, but he didn't have a gun…

As the gunshot went off, Nick fell backwards and lay on the floor simply clutching at his stomach. Mini shook her head and fell down next to him.

"No, no, no…. Nick, no he didn't have a gun!" As much as she tried to deny it, as soon as she moved his hand away from his stomach she couldn't deny it anymore – he had been shot.

* * *

><p><strong>I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. Three months? Three months and she comes back with a terrible chapter. <strong>

**Sorry, sorry, sorry. Be back in a few days with the next chapter though.**

**This chapter is dedicated to my mango.**

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry.**


	9. Death at a Disco

_Chapter 9 – Death at the Disco_

"Nick," Mini breathed out as she pressed his hand down on his wound. He looked up at the sky, as his hand stayed over the bullet wound. "I don't know what to do."

"Mins," He stuttered to her. "He didn't have a gun…"

"I know," She whispered. She thought about dialing for an ambulance or the police, but would they get here fast enough? She knew Grace was her best option. "I have to go get Alo and Liv… We'll take you to the hospital."

He held out his hand to her and tugged on her glove. He only let out a low groan, but she knew it meant he didn't want her to leave.

"I'll be right back." She said and she prayed that she was actually being honest. She removed her heels and ran as fast as she could back to the club.

* * *

><p>They left the restaurant after only being there for forty-five minutes. Franky had tried her best to make Rich like her, but the truth was becoming clear, he didn't like her as herself or as Grace. <em>There has to be something else to do…<em>

"I'm sorry," She began and Rich looked at her, interested in what she had to say. She felt Grace's phone in her pocket buzz, but she ignored it. "Tonight wasn't great, I know."

"No, it was shit." He said, nodding his head and looking slightly aggravated. "What was going on?"

"Sorry, I was just… so nervous and was trying to make sure you would like me." Her phone buzzed again, but she ignored it once more. She wringed her fingers together as Rich took a step back on the pavement so he was even further from her. He paced back and forth over a tiny distance and took a second before responding.

"What?" He stopped pacing and closed the gap between them so that he could make his point clearer. "Grace, I liked you because you… are you. You don't change for anyone. You should just be you, be Grace."

Franky lowered her eyes and sighed. She wasn't Grace, she couldn't be Grace. Rich patted her shoulder twice in an awkward manner in a semi-comforting manner. She glanced up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She stood on tip toe, so she could press her lips against his. It only lasted a second though, as his phone began to buzz and he didn't ignore it.

He pulled away from Grace and she turned away from him, but stood on the same spot. He didn't know what was going on with her and picking up the phone seemed more attractive than pretending he was still interested in this girl he was originally fascinated and awed by. Things had changed drastically in less than twenty four hours.

"Hello?"

"RICH!" He had to hold the phone slightly away from his ear as he heard Alo shouting on the other end.

"Where's Grace?" He asked urgently and Rich glanced over at her standing near the entrance to the restaurant.

"She's right here…" He said slowly, registering the fact that something was wrong. Grace turned around in surprise at the mention of her. "What's going on Al?"

"Okay, where are you?" He heard what sounded like Liv yelling at Alo in the background. "I've got to go, but -"

"Rich?" Liv asked, before continuing on. "Where are you both?"

"Rhubarb Tavern." Rich said in an annoyed tone. Liv repeated it to Alo. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Stay right there; we're coming in the van, we need Grace's help…" She sighed. "Nick got shot, Rich."

Rich didn't say anything. He couldn't really comprehend what was happening. Just a few days ago, he had seen Alo get turned into stone and now his other friend had been shot. He looked up at Grace's gaping face and took a deep breath before getting a grip of himself.

"They want you to heal Nick, he's been shot." Grace opened and closed her mouth several times before straightening up.

"Shot?" She repeated as she ran a hand through her hair. "Huh, I can't…"

"What do you mean you can't?" He asked, completely bewildered.

* * *

><p>"Are they close by?" Mini asked, holding onto Nick's hand. Liv turned around in her seat to look at them crouched in the back of the van.<p>

"Five minutes away." Alo said, and he seemed to be trying to go as fast as he could because the van lurched forward so Mini had to hold onto the side.

"Turn him Mini!" Liv shouted and Mini shook her head adamantly. She didn't want to risk him being turned and dying. It was a slim chance she knew, maybe even impossible, but she was scared he wouldn't wake up. He was getting worse though and if they didn't hurry to Grace then he would die right now. Liv threw her arms up in defeat and turned back round to the front.

"Where…" She looked down at Nick and he was trying hard to keep his eyes open. She sighed and proceeded to bite down hard on her bottom lip in her state of anxiety.

The blue van pulled up and the back door slid open so Rich and Grace could clamber inside. Liv was ushering them in with a manic expression. Grace blinked several times at Nick's nearly motionless body before shaking her head slowly. Liv saw the girl again, the girl with short hair and scary dark eyes, who wasn't Grace. _Powers…_

"_You're not her_," She spat out venomously and Grace snapped her head around in her direction. Rich threw his hand up to his forehead as if he should have realized this was the reason to her weirdness earlier. He wasted no time in trying to tune in to her thoughts.

'_How does she know? What the hell am I going to do now?_'

"What the fuck is going on?" Mini asked, from where she sat on the floor and Alo gave her a blank stare to show he had no idea what was going on either.

"She can't heal him, because she's _not_ Grace." Liv muttered darkly. Mini looked torn between crying and laughing, but finally decided on a simple shake of her head.

"Where is she?" Rich asked and Grace inclined her head upwards and saw the look of absolute disgust in his eyes – she knew it was over. She let her eyes turn dark and her skin slowly turned lighter and molded back into her own form. Her hair turned light and short; when she looked like herself again, the blackness in her eyes disappeared.

"Franks?" Alo choked out. Rich shook his head, not wanting to believe this was actually true. Liv had no idea who this person was, but she was so close to jumping out of her seat to give her a hard slap.

"Rich, you never even looked at me in the way you looked at her. You knew me for two fucking years and her for about two seconds -" Rich threw a hand up to gesture for her to stop.

"He's dying," Rich said, pointing at Nick. "I don't want to hear this now or ever really… Where is she?"

"My place." She reluctantly said in between pitiful sobs. Alo nodded his head and started driving; he still knew how to get there. Franky knelt down on the floor and curled up against the side door of the van. Mini glared at her, as Rich came over to where she was sitting.

"I swear I will turn her into stone." She said vehemently, but Rich was ignoring her as he touched Nick's chest.

"He's not breathing…" He said quietly, as if he didn't understand why this might be happening. Mini tried to shake Nick, but he wasn't moving or breathing and she didn't want to check for a pulse for it might mean she couldn't deny things anymore. She flung off one of her gloves and placed her hand roughly on his hand. Slowly his nice warm flesh made the transition to stone and Mini let go.

"Gracie will fix this now, yeah?" She asked, smoothing Nick's stone surface with a few delicate fingers. Rich just stared straight on as the van pulled to a stop. He jumped up and was immediately ready to find her.

"Are you coming?" He asked, looking behind him at Mini. Franky already was getting out of the van with her arms crossed.

"Uhm… yeah." Mini breathed out, stepping over Nick as if he was made of lava. Alo turned around in his seat and gave a thumbs up to Rich.

"I'll look after the van." Rich followed the others as they went towards the lift up to Franky's flat.

Mini grabbed hold of Liv's hand, thus transferring some of Nick's blood onto her hand. An awkward, silent lift ride later and they reached the floor of the Franky's place. Her hands shook as she removed the key from her pocket and put it in the keyhole. Once it was opened she pointed in the direction of the closet in the corner. Liv ran forward and unlocked the closet and Grace, who must have been leaning against the door, fell forwards. Neither of them said anything, but Liv held Grace close whereas Mini simply stood overlooking the two of them with a smile spreading out across her features. It was the only thing she could do in that moment. Grace caught Rich's eye over Liv's shoulder and gave him a half smile. He wondered how he could have possibly thought Franky was Grace to begin with when Franky never managed to perfect Grace, let alone her smile that made the hair on the back of his neck tingle.

"What do we do with her now?" Liv said gesturing at Franky as she got out of her hug with Grace. Rich moved back towards the door, so Franky couldn't make any quick escapes, but she seemed to not really be present in the room. She looked down at her feet as everyone else shot daggers at her.

"I think she should be turned -"

"No," Grace began, standing up and walking to the middle of the room. "I think we should just let her go."

Franky looked up surprised and Mini swore audibly. Rich pulled a face, but waited to hear what Grace had to say.

"But Grace, you don't even know why she was being you." Mini said angrily.

"Why?" Grace asked, glancing from Mini to Franky.

"She wanted Rich." Liv said and Grace turned to look at Rich. A small smile crept on her face as she realized why Franky was using her body and why Franky thought being Grace would be advantageous to her goal.

"I still want to just let her go," She repeated, lifting up Franky's chin so that she could look into her eyes. "I can't promise how my friends will treat you though if you come near us again."

"Yeah, can we get a fucking move on, Nick is dying outside." Mini said aggressively, trying to break up the current reconciliation going on. Grace snapped her head around and widened her eyes at Mini's statement.

"Well, where is he?" She asked, in a small panicked voice. She didn't really know Nick that well and had only seen him once, but she knew Mini liked him and he was good friends with Rich.

"Out in the van." Rich said, opening the door to let them all out. He didn't like that they were just leaving Franky be, but what else could they really do about her. Liv shoved past Franky so hard that she fell against the wall, so Liv could leave with a little bit of satisfaction.

Grace was a bit disoriented after being in the closet for nearly twenty-four hours, but Liv was helping her stay steady. Mini chewed on her bottom lip all the way down in the lift ride as she now had to deal with how badly a state Nick was left in inside the van. Liv's arm was flung around Grace's and Rich was standing just behind Grace. She found Rich's hand and wrapped a finger around his thumb. She knew he was probably really upset right now, but from she knew about him he would be fighting hard to not show it.

"Real Grace now?" Alo asked, as Grace clambered inside the van. Mini stood outside the door to the van, pacing back and forth as she waited for Grace with a hopefully healthy Nick.

Soon he wasn't in stone form anymore, but Grace shook her head as he stayed lifeless. She kept trying to place her hand over the wound, but her hand wasn't sticking it to it anymore…. Nothing was happening. She glanced up at Rich and he simply nodded – this was what he had expected. She stepped outside the van and sucked on her lips, whilst Mini's eyes looked wetter than usual as if she was on the verge of crying.

"He was already dead…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, so I'm kind of proud I managed to update faster than I think I've done before for this fic and also longest chapter yet! HOPEFULLY Y'ALL FOUND IT A LITTLE SAD. **

**This chapter is dedicated to The Grif Cannon who has stuck with this story all the way through (and hopefully you continue to!) **

**Please review, because I put a lot of effort in to this chapter and I would love some feedback on it :D **


	10. Five Powers and a Funeral

_Chapter 10 – Five Powers and a Funeral_

After that night, the gang had the whole weekend to process what had happened. Grace made it up to her parents for going missing for a whole day without contacting them, Liv split her time between Mini's house and her own. Rich spent the whole weekend at Alo's, talking about how daft Nick had been and naming a spliff after him. Mini spent her time lazing around her house and sometimes sitting in a comfortable silence with Liv. Of course she had to go to the police and a statement that was mostly false. She had to say he had been shot with a gun and that of course she had taken him to the hospital as soon as it happened.

"It was a power, you know." Mini said slowly, not moving from her position on the bed; they had been drifting in and out of sleep all day.

"Huh?" She asked, raising her head slightly from Mini's shoulder and tightening the embrace she currently had Mini in.

"That guy… He shot a bullet from his finger." She said, shifting her body around to look at Liv.

"I know," Liv said, trying to sound consoling. "You already told me."

Silence resumed.

* * *

><p>Monday came too soon for some and others had actually been eager to start again. Mini and Liv had walked in together and found Grace sitting on a stool in the main hall. She was focusing on the probation officer's window and Liv glanced in that direction to see Alo and Rich talking with him.<p>

"What's going on?" She asked, as Mini took a seat next to Grace. She didn't stop staring at the window, but gave a sad smile.

"They're asking if we can leave early today… It's Nick's funeral." Liv's shoulders slumped forward and Mini turned her attention to the fraying edges on her sleeves.

The probation worker exited the office first followed by the other two. He still kept his signature expression, which was a stony cold look, but at least now he wasn't angry with them.

"Right…" He started, before giving a small cough. "You all have permission to leave at 12 for the uhmm… Let's just get this space ready for the yoga class then, alright?"

Mini immediately stomped off to the lockers, whilst Grace and Liv went to fetch the yoga mats from the storage cupboard.

"Should I go, Gracie? I didn't even know him." Liv asked and Grace gave a simple shrug of her shoulders.

"I don't know, I think it's the right thing to do." She said, pulling on one of the mats. Rich appeared in the cupboard too.

"Hi Grace," He started, taking the mat from her. Grace could feel her cheeks turning pinker, as she turned to get another mat. He still stood in the doorway and looked like he was waiting for her to reply.

"Hi," She smiled, but when he still stood there she tried to maneuver around him. "Uhm… Rich? I should go take this back to the hall."

"Smooth." Liv stated, as she followed Grace.

"_Shit_," He groaned, moving to grab another mat.

* * *

><p>"Mins," Alo quietly said, appearing behind her at her locker. She didn't turn around and pretended to be searching for something inside the locker.<p>

"Are you alright?" He asked, walking closer to where she stood. When he asked her the question, her shoulders seemed to slump as if she was giving in.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She mumbled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand before turning around to finally face him. "He was your friend…"

"Yeah, but it's you." He said starting to smile, as she let out a short laugh. He walked nearer still and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a sort of pat. He looked unsure of whether he was crossing the line or not, but Mini didn't seem to care. She in fact seemed to like the comfort, even though it was just his hand over her overalls. "You should come to the funeral."

He left her alone then and Mini felt tears pricking in the corners of her eyes. She winced as she went to wipe them away, because it was strangely painful. For a second she thought an eyelash had gone into her eye and that would explain the pain, but when she brought her hand away the pain was still there. She glanced down at her hand and saw what looked like dirt on her finger. When she looked at it more closely it looked like tiny cuts of granite. She ran to the bathroom and examined her eyes in the mirror. The corners of both her eyes had gone red with irritation. She wiped at them again and more bits fell into the sink; she managed to collect a pile after she continued to rub until the pain had gone. She couldn't explain it at all, but she didn't feel like crying anymore.

* * *

><p>It was a good turnout for a funeral. His Dad and Mum although divorced had both seemed civil enough and Rider had been there looking somber (and sober) for once. Grandparents, college friends and distant relatives had all shown up and of course Rich, Alo, Grace, Liv and Mini had been sitting at the back of the service.<p>

When everything was over and they were standing over his grave, his Dad had given a significant nod in their direction to acknowledge the fact that they had brought him to the hospital. Rider lingered behind along with them and he looked like he had been crying a lot. His Mum had a protective arm wrapped around him.

"Dudes, why didn't you come get me when you went to the hospital?" He asked. Liv chewed on her bottom lip and glanced at Mini, but she looked liked she wasn't even paying attention.

"Rider, you were…" Alo was about to say he was on coke, but Liv punched him on the arm. She didn't want to get him in trouble with his Mum in case she didn't know about what he gets up to. So Alo just groaned out, "_Fuck._"

"Sorry, we kind of just rushed there." Liv said, feeling actually sorry for Rider. He wiped at his snotty nose and pointed angrily at them.

"Not cool, guys. He was my best friend." His Mum pulled on his arm and looked apologetically at the gang.

"Let's go, Paul."

"Paul? Paul. Paul." Alo said wonderingly, as the gang began to trail after the others, not really sure where they were going next.

"Paul." Rich said in agreement and pushed Alo in front.

Liv and Alo lead the way in silence until Liv became aware of somebody staring at them. She stared back, raising an eyebrow at them, almost testing them to keep looking and he did. He looked nearly the same age as them and was wearing dark, baggy clothes. He was under a tree just behind Nick's grave, but after a few minutes he shook his head at Liv and walked off in the direction. Liv shrugged off the whole thing as nothing important, but it still bugged her. She tried to go with the theory that she had brought attention with her black printed dip hem dress.

"Mini, are you okay?" Grace asked, as she noticed Mini's eyes were dark and red. Mini scratched at one of her eyes and then pulled down on her tight, black laced bodycon dress. Grace had gone for something simpler in her black shoulder wrap dress.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Grace began tentatively, trying to reach out for part of Mini's covered arm. "You seem-"

"Fucking hell, Grace! I'm fine." Mini said, before shaking off Grace's arm and stomping forward to Liv. Rich caught up with Grace then.

"What was all that about?" Grace shook her head with slightly widened eyes.

"I have no idea." She sighed. There was an awkward silence as they continued to walk along the path.

"Look Grace, I know this is all fucked up -"

"Richhhhh" Grace interrupted, elongating his name so it was as if she begging him not to talk about this now.

"What?" Rich said with a defeated sigh.

"I really like you and I didn't even know you liked me in that way until…" Grace began to blush, so she looked down and cleared her throat. She stopped walking and threw her arms about in an attempt to explain her frustration.

"Things have changed so fast in a week. _We have powers now_," She finished in a whisper. "And Franky tried to be me, Nick just died and I feel like I'm losing my two best friends."

Rich nodded; he reluctantly understood what she was trying to say. He didn't know if they would ever work out, but he had wanted to try… Obviously Grace wasn't sure if she wanted to try with them.

"I just can't right now… I do like you though, Richard." She finished quietly.

"I understand." He said somberly. She gave him a small smile and began to walk off.

It had been exactly a week since their community service and things had gotten crazier by the second. He didn't want to imagine what else could happen in the next three weeks.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: EXCUSE ME FOR THE CRAPPY ENDING. Okay next chapter is the penultimate one so yay. I haven't really come up with reasoning for why Mini's eyes did that, so let's just say it's because she had kissed Nick or because of her power she can't show emotion so she's beginning to turn into stone herself. Whatever you're happy with that will be the reason. **


	11. A Mini Problem

_Chapter 11 – A Mini Problem_

It hadn't been long since the funeral - not even a full forty eight hours - so Grace was panicking slightly over the fact that she was about to try and talk to Mini about what was up with her and why did Mini and Liv seem to be so far away from her these days. After the funeral Mini had stuck nearer to Liv than she had before and only rarely would Liv talk to her. Things had really gone from bad to worse.

She approached the door and then backed away a little bit again, she didn't want Mini to get angry or for the distance between them to widen even more. She paced a little more before finally knocking on her door. Mini soon appeared in the doorway before Grace could back out of it.

"Hey Gracie," Mini said, smiling in surprise. "Come to walk with us to service?"

She walked back into the house, leaving the door open for Grace to follow her. She froze for a moment and felt her anger build up and remembered why she was really here. She stomped inside and put her hands on her hips.

"Just waiting for Liv to get her lazy ass -" Mini picked up her bag off the sofa and turned back around to see Grace standing there, trying to look as hard as she could in her little white collared dress. She snorted loudly and Liv walked down the stairs staring at the scene before her.

"Gracie? What's up?" She asked, as she started putting her jacket on. She exhaled slowly, trying to compose herself.

"You two are just… just acting completely like bitches!" She snapped out, forgetting completely about composing herself. Mini's mouth gaped completely open and Liv leaned backwards in surprise. They exchanged a look.

"Oh, really? And how the fuck are we doing that?" Mini said calmly, almost sounding amused. Grace placed a hand to her head and began to massage her forehead gently.

"I hardly see you two anymore," She began, speaking in a calmer voice this time around. "Ever since the powers, you two are together all the time… We're supposed to _all_ be friends."

Mini at least looked slightly guilty now and chewed on one of her nails as she thought how best to reply.

"I feel so alone with this shitty curse and Liv is the only one who can touch me…"

"And I was kidnapped!" Grace squeaked out, before taking a step forward to Mini and Liv. "It was terrible and when you came to get me… with Rich, I finally thought things were getting back to normal… But they haven't!"

"Shit, Grace… Sorry, if you felt like we didn't care." Liv said, approaching Grace and placing an arm over her shoulders.

"Can we just be like before? Please?" Grace asked, nearly begging them as Liv wiped Grace's eyes to remove some of the tears.

"Of course, babe." Liv smiled, bringing her in closer. Grace still stared at Mini though and she nodded.

"Sorry," Mini quietly said, as she walked past them to the kitchen. "Just getting some water then we can go live the high life." She spoke sarcastically.

She stood by the sink and washed her hands. She could feel the prickling sensation in her cuticles. She glanced at her fingers and saw the small dirt-like pieces forming around her nails; she hurriedly tried to scrub them away as she heard Liv and Grace discussing what they might be doing that day. She winced in pain as she scrubbed her nails clean.

"Are you okay, Mini moo?" Grace surprised her, by peeking over her shoulder. She instantly hid her hands in her brown shorts pockets after she turned off the tap.

"Fine!" She said, faking a grin. Grace did not look anywhere near convinced, but Mini cut her off before she could say anything. "Ladies, I don't want having a go at us for being late, let's go."

Grace knew there was something else bothering Mini, but knowing her she wasn't going to spill the beans. There was only one person she knew would be able to find out what was going on; she just did not like having to use this power to find out, but _there were exceptions_.

* * *

><p>"Ugh… Alo, you have no idea what you're talking about. That's not how it happened at all." Alo turned his head in Rich's direction as he finished parking the van. He gave him an outraged expression.<p>

"Excuse me, Richaroo? I was there too; I know exactly what shit went down!" Rich let out a derisive laugh and opened his door, as Alo jumped out his side to run around to meet Rich.

"Your memory is honestly worse than your disgusting, offensive and just balls taste in music. Your memory of the first day of college is you getting a wink from a girl." Alo lifted up one side of his mouth in confusion.

"But that is what happened…"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right… She winked, but just with both eyes _at the same time_." He sighed, as Alo lightly pushed his arm in annoyance. "What happened was you wanted to do coke and I said that was terrible. You insisted and bought it from some bigger twat than you. You dragged me to the toilets and then some undercover cop saw the transaction so followed us in there and we got done for possession of drugs without even taking them and now here we are… You were not, I repeat, were not persuaded by 'a dude' as you put it to take it for free. Worst memory EVER."

Alo had selective memory when it came to remembering stories where he came off badly, so Rich often had to explain things to him over and over again. After this rather long explanation, the realization of the events seemed to be dawning on Alo. He nodded and let out a small laugh.

"Oh yeah and you head butted me, right? Wasn't Nick there too?" He abruptly stopped laughing and there was an awkward silence as Rich scuffed his shoe on the floor. After an uncomfortable moment, he nodded.

"Yeah, he was." He gave a half smile whilst opening the door to the community centre. Nick had gotten coke from the same guy an hour before them, so he wasn't caught along with them. "Prick got away with it though."

They found roller brushes and big tins of paint waiting outside the changing room, so they knew what they had to look forward to that day. They groaned simultaneously and dragged themselves to their lockers.

* * *

><p>"Hurry up, girls! The other two gits are already outside." Their probation worker shouted, pointing at three roller brushes and a big tin of paint for them to carry outside. Mini grabbed the dish for the paint, whilst Liv was stuck with the tin and Grace had the three roller brushes. She blushed heavily as she felt the intense glare of their probation worker on them.<p>

They turned the corner, following the shouts of "GEROFF" and "FUCKING HELL" that were obviously coming from Rich. Grace smirked a little as she found Alo cowering over Rich with a roller brush and painting his orange overalls. Liv and Mini cackled with laughter, as Rich kicked Alo in his shins so he fell over unelegantly landing in his tin of paint.

"I think you might have got a little paint on your ass there, ginger minger." Mini stated trying to suppress her laughter as Alo stood up to reveal a huge white patch of paint covering his entire backside. He let out a deflated sigh as he stood on the spot pathetically not knowing what he should really do.

"Maybe there are spare overalls for you, Alo." Grace suggested, handing out the rollers to Mini and Liv, who were still sniggering at Alo's disheveled appearance.

"Good thinking." Alo agreed; as he walked back in the direction they just came. Rich began to stand up and wiped at the two smallish white paint stains he had on his own overalls. He quietly got back to his own painting, but shook his head when he saw Alo walking strangely back to the centre. Liv and Mini began to mess about with their rollers, so Grace took that moment to walk nearer to where Rich was standing.

He was too aware of her presence and couldn't really ignore her for much longer.

"Uhm… we were jousting." He confessed, making it sound like he hadn't wanted to do it at all when in reality Alo didn't have to convince him at all. Grace furrowed her brow in confusion at first, but then nodded when she understood what he was referring to. She continued to stand there which made Rich feel extremely uneasy. He turned away from his painting once more to raise an eyebrow questioningly at her.

"I need to ask you something," She began, understanding that he didn't particularly want to speak to her right now. He gestured with one hand for her to continue on and after lightly clearing her throat, she barely breathed the rest. "Would you listen to somebody's thoughts for me?"

"_What?_" He asked, not trying to hide his annoyance. She ducked her head a little, so she wasn't looking into his eyes and she glanced behind her to make sure Liv and Mini hadn't started paying attention to their conversation. "You're the one who told me not to listen to your thoughts."

He simply shook his head and got back to concentrating on painting over the word 'cunt' written in giant letters across the crumbling wall. She stepped closer to him quickly and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.

"I know," She began imploringly, pulling him around to face her. Her voice dropped to a near whisper as she continued on, but she never lost the urgency in her tone. "But I'm so worried and I don't know what to do… Something is wrong with _Mini_."

"That's something we already know…" He said with a roll of his eyes, trying to ignore how close Grace was to him now and the fact that he could smell the sweet vanilla fragrance of her hair and that her eyes were trained on his.

"_Rich_…" She began, in that begging way she had done at the funeral. He was really a victim of emotional abuse every time she did that, because she could get anything out of him when she said his name like that. "Please?"

"I don't think this is right and you would be better off talking to her, but fine…" He said with a defeated sigh. She breathed out in relief and brought him towards her for a quick hug. It lasted a few fleeting moments, but Rich was so overwhelmed that he didn't know what to do. He simply stood there and waited for it to end, but when it did he wanted it to go on and on. She released him and smiled happily up at him.

"Thank you," She turned around and joined her friends. He sighed yet again; _why am I agreeing to this?_

* * *

><p>Rich had worked for so long on controlling his power so he could block out most peoples' thoughts, but usually a thought now and then would escape; it wasn't so bad though as he could hardly recognize whose thought it was as it sounded like a blur of noise. However now he was agreeing to help Grace and he would need to listen to Mini's thoughts. Of course he couldn't just tune in to her thoughts; he would be allowing himself to hearing whatever anyone else was thinking.<p>

'_In the wank bank,_' Alo thought as he saw Mini pulling one of her bra straps back into its right position. Grace walked out of the bathroom, changed back into her dress.

"My Dad's picking me up, do you need a lift?" Grace asked her friends. Liv shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" She followed Grace towards the exit, whilst Grace parted Rich with a small smile.

"Wait for me, bitches." Mini called, walking back into the bathroom. '_Fucksake… again?_'

Rich scrunched his face up in concentration as Mini stood in the doorway of the disabled toilets. She was simply washing her hands, so he didn't know what was going on.

'_What is it going to be next? My whole body turning into stone?'_

He didn't really need to hear the rest; he could kind of guess what she meant. He leaned back against his locker in shock at what he heard. She began walking towards the doorway, stuffing her hands in her pockets and giving him a calculating look.

She was turning into stone and the problem was who was going to help her?

* * *

><p><strong>WAHHHH THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER! So what are your bets for the final chapter? What's going to go down? What's going to happen to Mini? What about the sweethearts (aka Rich and Grace)? ALL WILL BE REVEALED muhahahah<strong>


	12. The Girl Who Turned to Stone

_Chapter 12 – The Girl Who Turned To Stone._

_Let's go to sleep with clearer heads  
>And hearts too big to fit our beds<br>And maybe we won't feel so alone  
>Before we turn to stone<em>

Turn to Stone – Ingrid Michaelson

"Rich?" Grace said into her phone. She had just gotten back home and was sitting on her bed. Liv and Mini had been dropped off back at their own homes much to her Dad's annoyance – he thought they were a bad influence after the whole shoplifting incident which was partly true. "Did you find out anything?"

"Promise you won't do anything stupid." He asked of her and this sent Grace into a panic mode. She stood up and began to pace the width of her room.

"What is it?" She asked urgently.

"Promise," Rich simply stated and Grace let out an annoyed tsking sound.

"I can't if you don't tell me what it is!" She nearly shouted into the phone. Rich seemed taken aback as there was a bit of a pause and a fumbling noise.

"I think she's turning into stone herself." He said, sounding completely confused. Grace stopped pacing and scrunched her face up.

"Sorry, I have to go see her."

"No -" Grace had already hung up, so Rich was left on the other line, worried and annoyed that Grace might try to do something stupid even though he explicitly told her not to.

* * *

><p>"Grace?" Mini's mum asked in her thick Scottish accent, giving a puzzled expression at the breathless Grace. She had run from the bus stop to Mini's house and desperate to get inside. Mini's mum gave her one last curious look before turning back into the house and yelling, "OH MINI."<p>

There was a long silence and no reply from Mini, so Grace just followed her Mum inside.

"I'll just go up," She said, sounding extremely breathless as she started to take the stairs up. She opened Mini's bedroom door and found her flicking through a copy of _Cosmopolitan_.

"Come to save me from my boredom?" Mini asked casually when she saw Grace enter. However when she noticed the anxiety in Grace's face she furrowed her eyebrows.

"What exactly is going on with you?" Grace asked, skipping any greetings and sitting herself within a comfortable distance from Mini. She closed her magazine and sighed.

"Apart from the obvious?" She tried to joke, but looked uneasy at her blunt question. Grace wringed her hands together before telling her what she knew.

"Uhmm… I asked Rich to listen to you and-"

"You what?!" Mini cried out, before sitting up straighter on her bed. Grace chewed on her lip and threw up her hands defensively.

"I just wanted to know what was wrong…" She replied in a defensive, but timid voice.

"And you couldn't just fucking ask me?" Mini shouted again, standing up and folding her arms across her chest.

"Would you have told me?" Grace raised an eyebrow questioningly. She knew Mini too well and that's the only reason why she had asked Rich to find out what was wrong. Mini pouted and sat back down on the bed, refusing to look directly at Grace.

"So… Rich said you're turning to stone?" Grace prayed that Rich had made a mistake, but Mini's defeated shake of the head and the look in her eyes told Grace that he was right.

"I found some dirt in my eye, then something gravelly on my nails." She paused, raising up her right hand. "I can barely move it anymore… And I'm finding gravel everywhere, my ears, hair and nose."

"Let me fix it," Grace said in a tone of urgency, hurriedly moving her hand towards her. Mini's hand shot back out of Grace's reach and she widened her eyes.

"No, don't you dare." She said harshly. "You could turn to stone as well and who would save you then?"

Grace's hand fell to her side uselessly. She decided on the spot that she would do it, despite the risk if it got any worse.

"Fine," Grace's response worried Mini, but she put it to the back of her mind. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, but it mostly scares me." Mini nodded, pulling the right sleeve of her hoodie down so it hid her hand.

"Why is this even happening?" Grace asked, stroking Mini's covered arm. It was the only comforting she could do right now.

"I wish I knew."

* * *

><p>Liv stood down on her cigarette before opening the door to the community centre, as she did so her eye caught on to a figure leaning on one of the picnic tables. It was the same guy from the funeral the other day. He was focusing on her and he looked angry. She couldn't deny that it was scaring her now. She pulled on the sleeve of her red cardigan before narrowing her eyes at him.<p>

"You're creeping the shit out of me!" She shouted at him, but he was unfazed. He stood away from the picnic table and began to turn away, still looking completely composed. "Who the fuck are you?"

As he continued to walk off, she thought to herself, _I do not have time for this shit._ She marched off to the changing room finding the whole gang there apart from Rich.

"Hey babes," Liv said cheerily, whilst Grace and Mini shared significant looks. Grace finally turned and smiled at Liv.

"I'm going to go get a snack, Mini's got something to tell you." Grace said, smiling back at Mini and leaving the changing rooms.

"Well," She could hear Mini saying behind her.

* * *

><p>"Rich," Grace called, standing up from getting something out from the vending machine. He paused by the door to the changing room and awkwardly shuffled around.<p>

"Did you -"

"I spoke -" She laughed a little and so did he as they spoke at the same time. Her eyes met his and she knew this was as good as any time.

"You first," He mumbled, motioning to her.

She stood on her tip toes and wrapped her arms elegantly around his neck before he could even react. She tilted her head like she knew you were supposed to do and it seemed to work out fine, because she pressed her lips against his and he was responding. She smiled into his lips as she felt his arms reach out to pull her closer to him, even though it seemed impossible to get any closer to one another. His hands rested on the small of her back and her arms stay twisted around his neck, but a few of her fingers trailed off to play with the ends of his hair. Seconds passed or minutes did, she could not really say, but they were pulled apart by a shriek; a shriek from the changing room.

Grace pulled apart from Rich, as he seemed reluctant to stop, but she continued to hold on tightly to his hand. It took her a moment to realize where it was coming from, but another shriek and a shout kicked her into start gear. She pushed open the door and saw one terrified Mini crouched down on the floor cradling her arm. Grace tried to breathe normally, but what she saw scared her more than anything else she had seen before. Mini was cradling a stone arm and seemed to be in excruciating pain. She cried out and screamed, as Liv placed one arm around her but seemed unsure of what else to do. Alo stood looking over at the other two wondering what the fuck was going on.

Grace chewed on her lip and glanced at Rich. He must have seen the determination grow stronger in her eyes for her shook his head and tightened the grip he had on her hand. She broke free and ran over to Mini.

"GRACE," Rich yelled, trying to chase after her, which caused Mini to look up and see her coming. She backed away, still holding her arm to her chest.

"Trust me," Grace whispered, before clasping her hand over hers. Mini tried to wriggle away, but the sticky substance had already stuck them together.

Grace looked over her shoulder at Rich and she smiled sadly at him, she knew it wasn't working. She couldn't save Mini and herself, her hand was turning and soon all of her would be like a statue. Mini tried to yank her hand away.

"This is stupid, stupid, stupid," She sniffled, still trying to pull away. Grace sat there calmly and waited for what would happen but a single tear fell down her cheek as her whole body quickly turned into a statue form. Mini finally broke free, but now Grace sat there unmoving and made of stone.

Rich slid down against the wall and placed his head down on his knees. Nobody else moved, but stayed waiting for something to happen, for her to change back – for anything but this. The truth was though that there was nobody left to save her…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So that's the end of this story! I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you guys reviewing and keeping with this story, because I never would have finished this without your support!  
><strong>

**Look out for the sequel, 'Wake Up', towards the end of October! :)  
><strong>


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